MySQL – How to reset a forgotten Root password

I’m sure that we have all done it. Yep, that’s right you’ve forgotten the MySQL root password. Fear not my fellow conrade, with a few simple simple commands you will be back in control.

Stop MySQL

First of all stop MySQL.

/etc/init.d/mysqld stop

Connect to MySQL

Next instruct MySQL to ignore the GRANT Tables. Then start MySQL.

mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables 
mysql --user=root mysql

Reset Password

Next reset your password.

update user set Password=PASSWORD('new-password') where user='root';
flush privileges;
exit;

Start MySQL

Finally restart MySQL.

/etc/init.d/mysqld start
Rick Donato

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