What is the default root pasword for MySQL 5.7

Question

Cannot login to MySQL database after fresh install with root ID and empty/no password like other older MySQL versions do

Answer 1

I just installed Linux Mint 19 (based on Ubuntu 18.04) on my machine. I installed MySQL 5.7 from the repo (sudo apt install mysql-server) and surprisingly during installation, the setup didn't prompt to enter root password. As a result I wasn't able to login into MySQL. I googled here and there and tried various answers I found on the net, including the accepted answer above. I uninstalled (purging all dpkgs with mysql in its name) and reinstalled again from the default Linux Mint repositories. NONE works.

After hours of unproductive works, I decided to reinstall MySQL from the official page. I opened MySQL download page (https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/repo/apt) for apt repo and clicked Download button at the bottom right.

Next, run it with dpkg:

sudo dpkg -i mysql-apt-config_0.8.10-1_all.deb

At the installation setup, choose the MySQL version that you'd like to install. The default option is 8.0 but I changed it to 5.7. Click OK to quit. After this, you have a new MySQL repo in your Software Sources.

Update your repo:

sudo apt update

Finally, install MySQL:

sudo apt install mysql-server

And now I was prompted to provide root password! Hope it helps for others with this same experience.