How do I turn off the mysql password validation?

Question

It seems that I may have inadvertently loaded the password validation plugin in MySQL 5.7. This plugin seems to force all passwords to comply to certain rules.

I would l

Answer 1

For references and the future, one should read the doc here https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-secure-deployment-guide/5.7/en/secure-deployment-password-validation.html

Then you should edit your mysqld.cnf file, for instance :

vim /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf

Then, add in the [mysqld] part, the following :

plugin-load-add=validate_password.so
validate_password_policy=LOW

Basically, if you edit your default, it will looks like :

[mysqld]
#
# * Basic Settings
#
user            = mysql
pid-file        = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
socket          = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
port            = 3306
basedir         = /usr
datadir         = /var/lib/mysql
tmpdir          = /tmp
lc-messages-dir = /usr/share/mysql
skip-external-locking
plugin-load-add=validate_password.so
validate_password_policy=LOW

Then, you can restart:

systemctl restart mysql

If you forget the plugin-load-add=validate_password.so part, you will it an error at restart.

Enjoy !