MySQL: How to reset or change the MySQL root password? - mysql

Question

How do I change the MySQL root password and username in ubuntu server? Do I need to stop the mysql service before setting any changes?
I have a phpmyadmin setup as well, will phpmyadmin get updated automatically?

Answer 1

Set / change / reset the MySQL root password on Ubuntu Linux. Enter the following lines in your terminal.
Stop the MySQL Server: sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
(In some cases, if /var/run/mysqld doesn't exist, you have to create it at first: sudo mkdir -v /var/run/mysqld && sudo chown mysql /var/run/mysqld
Start the mysqld configuration: sudo mysqld --skip-grant-tables &
Login to MySQL as root: mysql -u root mysql
Replace YOURNEWPASSWORD with your new password:
For MySQL < 8.0
UPDATE mysql.user SET Password = PASSWORD('YOURNEWPASSWORD') WHERE User = 'root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
If your MySQL uses new auth plugin, you will need to use: update user set plugin="mysql_native_password" where User='root'; before flushing privileges.
Note: on some versions, if password column doesn't exist, you may want to try:
UPDATE user SET authentication_string=password('YOURNEWPASSWORD') WHERE user='root';
Note: This method is not regarded as the most secure way of resetting the password, however, it works.
For MySQL >= 8.0
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YOURNEWPASSWORD';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Last step:
As noted in comments by #lambart, you might need to kill the temporary password-less mysql process that you started, i.e. sudo killall -9 mysqld and then start normal daemon: sudo service mysql start
References:
Set / Change / Reset the MySQL root password on Ubuntu Linux
How to Reset the Root Password (v5.6)
How to Reset the Root Password (v8.0)

Answer 2

The only method that worked for me is the one described here (I am running ubuntu 14.04). For the sake of clarity, these are the steps I followed:
sudo vim /etc/mysql/my.cnf
Add the following lines at the end:
[mysqld]
skip-grant-tables
sudo service mysql restart
mysql -u root
use mysql
select * from mysql.user where user = 'root'; - Look at the top to determine whether the password column is called
password or authentication_string
UPDATE mysql.user set *password_field from above* = PASSWORD('your_new_password') where user = 'root' and host = 'localhost'; - Use the proper password column from above
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit
sudo vim /etc/mysql/my.cnf
Remove the lines added in step 2 if you want to keep your security standards.
sudo service mysql restart
For reference : https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/resetting-permissions.html

Answer 3

The official and easy way to reset the root password on an ubuntu server...
If you are on 16.04, 14.04, 12.04:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.5
If you are on 10.04:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.1
If you are not sure which mysql-server version is installed you can try:
dpkg --get-selections | grep mysql-server
Updated notes for mysql-server-5.7
Note that if you are using mysql-server-5.7 you can not use the easier dpkg-reconfigure method shown above.
If you know the password, login and run this:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('my-new-password') WHERE USER='root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Alternatively, you can use the following:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
This will ask you a series of questions about securing your installation (highly recommended), including if you want to provide a new root password.
If you do NOT know the root password, refer to this Ubuntu-centric write up on the process.
See for more info:
https://help.ubuntu.com/16.04/serverguide/mysql.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/serverguide/mysql.html

Answer 4

What worked for me (Ubuntu 16.04, mysql 5.7):
Stop MySQL
sudo service mysql stop
Make MySQL service directory.
sudo mkdir /var/run/mysqld
Give MySQL user permission to write to the service directory.
sudo chown mysql: /var/run/mysqld
Start MySQL manually, without permission checks or networking.
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &
On another console, log in without a password.
mysql -uroot mysql
Then:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('YOURNEWPASSWORD'), plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root' AND Host='localhost';
EXIT;
Turn off MySQL.
sudo mysqladmin -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock shutdown
Start the MySQL service normally.
sudo service mysql start

Answer 5

I am sharing the step by step final solution to reset a MySQL password in Linux
Ubuntu.
Reference taken from blog (dbrnd.com)
Step 1:
Stop MySQL Service.
sudo stop mysql
Step 2:
Kill all running mysqld.
sudo killall -9 mysqld
Step 3:
Starting mysqld in Safe mode.
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &
Step 4:
Start mysql client
mysql -u root
Step 5:
After successful login, please execute this command to change any password.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Step 6:
You can update mysql root password .
UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('newpwd') WHERE User='root';
Note: On MySQL 5.7, column Password is called authentication_string.
Step 7:
Please execute this command.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Answer 6

At first run this command:
sudo mysql
and then you should check which authentication method of your MySQL user accounts use.So run this command
SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;
now you can see something like this already :
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| user | authentication_string | plugin | host |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| root | | auth_socket | localhost |
| mysql.session | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| mysql.sys | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| debian-sys-maint | *CC744277A401A7D25BE1CA89AFF17BF607F876FF | mysql_native_password | localhost |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
in the table that is in the above , you can see that all of your mysql users accounts status & if you have set a password for root account before you see mysql_native_password in plugin column instead auth_socket.
All in all for change your root password you should run :
ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';
Be sure to change password to a strong password of your choosing.
Then for reload your server to put your new changes into effect run this;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
So again check the authentication methods which has employed by your mysql , by this command:
SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;
and now the output is :
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| user | authentication_string | plugin | host |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| root | *3636DACC8616D997782ADD0839F92C1571D6D78F | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| mysql.session | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| mysql.sys | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| debian-sys-maint | *CC744277A401A7D25BE1CA89AFF17BF607F876FF | mysql_native_password | localhost |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
as you can see in the grant table your root account has mysql_native_password
.
now you can exit MYSQL shell
exit;
That's it.just you should restart mysql by sudo service mysql restart.
Now you can login to mysql as a root account with your password easily.

Answer 7

I faced problems with ubuntu 18.04 and mysql 5.7, this is the solution
Try restart mysql-server before execution the comands
sudo service mysql restart
MYSQL-SERVER >= 5.7
sudo mysql -uroot -p
USE mysql;
UPDATE user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('YOUR_PASSWORD') WHERE User='root';
UPDATE user SET plugin="mysql_native_password";
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit;
MYSQL-SERVER < 5.7
sudo mysql -uroot -p
USE mysql;
UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD('YOUR_PASSWORD') WHERE User='root';
UPDATE user SET plugin="mysql_native_password";
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit;

Answer 8

Change the MySQL root password.
This method exposes the password to the command-line history, these commands should be run as root.
Login through mysql command line tool:
mysql -uroot -poldpassword
Run this command:
SET PASSWORD FOR root#'localhost' = PASSWORD('newpassword');
or
Run this command, which sets a password for the current user ('root' for this case) :
SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('newpassword');

Answer 9

Stop MySQL
sudo service mysql stop
Make MySQL service directory.
sudo mkdir /var/run/mysqld
Give MySQL user permission to write to the service directory.
sudo chown mysql: /var/run/mysqld
Start MySQL manually, without permission checks or networking.
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &
5.Log in without a password.
mysql -uroot mysql
6.Update the password for the root user.
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('YOURNEWPASSWORD'), plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root' AND Host='%';
EXIT;
Turn off MySQL.
sudo mysqladmin -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock shutdown
Start the MySQL service normally.
sudo service mysql start

Answer 10

If you would like to change the MySQL root password, in a terminal enter:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.5
The MySQL daemon will be stopped, and you will be prompted to enter a new password.

Answer 11

This works like charm I did it for Ubuntu 16.04.
Full credit to below link as I got it from there.
[https://coderwall.com/p/j9btlg/reset-the-mysql-5-7-root-password-in-ubuntu-16-04-lts][1]
Stop MySQL
sudo service mysql stop
Make MySQL service directory.
sudo mkdir /var/run/mysqld
Give MySQL user permission to write to the service directory.
sudo chown mysql: /var/run/mysqld
Start MySQL manually, without permission checks or networking.
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &
Log in without a password.
mysql -uroot mysql
Update the password for the root user.
make sure at atleast root account gets updated by the below query.
make some selection and check the existing values if you like
UPDATE mysql.user SET
authentication_string=PASSWORD('YOURNEWPASSWORD'),
plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root';
EXIT;
Turn off MySQL.
sudo mysqladmin -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock shutdown
Start the MySQL service normally.
sudo service mysql start

Answer 12

In my case this option helped : https://stackoverflow.com/a/49610152/13760371
Thank you, Rahul.
except for the following moment, when I try entered command:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('YOURNEWPASSWORD'), plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root' AND Host='%';
the console issued a warning:
1681 'password' is deprecated and will be removed in a future release
cured with this command:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=CONCAT('*', UPPER(SHA1(UNHEX(SHA1('NEWPASSWORD'))))), plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root' AND Host='localhost';
MySQL version 5.7.X
My variant:
1. > sudo service mysql stop
2. > sudo mkdir /var/run/mysqld
3. > sudo chown mysql: /var/run/mysqld
4. > sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &
5. > mysql -uroot mysql
6. > UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=CONCAT('*', UPPER(SHA1(UNHEX(SHA1('NEWPASSWORD'))))), plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root' AND Host='localhost';
7. > \q;
8. > sudo mysqladmin -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock shutdown
9. > sudo service mysql start

Answer 13

This solution belongs to the previous version of MySQL.
By logging in to MySQL using socket authentication, you can do it.
sudo mysql -u root
Then the following command could be run.
ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';
Details are available here .

Answer 14

This is the solution for me. I work at Ubuntu 18.04:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/46076838/2400373
But is important this change in the last step:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('YOURNEWPASSWORD'), plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root' AND Host='localhost';

Answer 15

For Ubuntu 18.04 and mysql version 14.14 Distrib 5.7.22 follow the below step to reset the mysql password.
Step 1
sudo systemctl stop mysql
Step 2
sudo systemctl edit mysql
This command will open a new file in the nano editor, which you'll use to edit MySQL's service overrides. These change the default service parameters for MySQL. This file will be empty, so add the following content:
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld --daemonize --pid-file=/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking
Step 3
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start mysql
Step 4
sudo mysql -u root
Step 5
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Step 6
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string = PASSWORD('new_password') WHEREuser = 'root';
Step 7
UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin ='mysql_native_password' WHERE user = 'root';
Step 8
sudo systemctl revert mysql
and finally
sudo systemctl restart mysql
Now enjoy

Answer 16

Echoing rogerdpack's comment: if you don't know the MySQL root password and you don't care about MySQL data/settings, you can reinstall it and reset the root's password as follows:
sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql
sudo apt-get install -y mysql-server mysql-client
During the installation, you can choose the root's password:

Answer 17

If you know your current password, you don't have to stop mysql server.
Open the ubuntu terminal.
Login to mysql using:
mysql - username -p
Then type your password.
This will take you into the mysql console.
Inside the console, type:
> ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password';
Then flush privileges using:
> flush privileges;
Then you are all done.

Answer 18

You don't need all this. Simply log in:
mysql -u root -p
Then change the current user's password as the mysql> prompt:
mysql> set password=password('the_new_password');
mysql> flush privileges;

Answer 19

Most of the answers on this topic are outdated; two major changes have occurred in MySQL up until the writing of this answer:
1- the 'Password' field in the user table has been replaced by 'authentication_string' column.
2- the 'Password' encryption function : PASSWORD("of some text") is deprecated.
Please refer to this link for further information:dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/resetting-permissions.html

Answer 20

1.Open nano / vim to create a file with the following content and Save file as ~/mysql-pwd
ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'NEWPASSWORD';
Stop mysql sudo systemctl stop mysql
Run sudo mysqld -init-file=~/mysql-pwd
Restart mysql sudo systemctl start mysql
Now login mysql -u root -p. password will be your NEWPASSWORD

Answer 21

When you use MySQL's PASSWORD() on the system where you want to change the password, it can cause the password turn up in a MySQL log in cleartext [source]. Keeping them, their backups etc. as secure as the password sounds like nightmare to me, so I rather like to do it as follows:
On your local machine, run this with your password:
mysql -u someuser -p < <(echo "SELECT PASSWORD('mypass');")
Note the space in front to prevent it from turning up in the bash history (for other distros than Ubuntu, this might work differently – source).
On your server machine, execute the following command to change its MySQL root password (replace myhash with your password's hash as printed by the first command):
mysql -u root -p < <(echo "SET PASSWORD FOR root#localhost = 'myhash';")
Optionally, let's be a bit paranoid: On your local machine, clear your terminal screen with clear and purge your virtual terminal scrollback, to hide the cleartext password appearing in the command above.

Answer 22

To update the "root" Mysql user password you must have in mind that you will need of super user permissions for that. If you have super user privilegies, try the following commands:
MySQL 5.7.6 and later
sudo su
service mysql stop
mysql -u root
ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';
\q;
exit
mysql -u root -p MyNewPass
MySQL 5.7.5 and earlier
sudo su
service mysql stop
mysql -u root
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'#'localhost' = PASSWORD('MyNewPass');
\q;
exit
mysql -u root -p MyNewPass

Answer 23

As mysql documentation on the password() function says:
This function was removed in MySQL 8.0.11.
This invalidates pretty much all existing answers for mysql v8.0.11 and newer.
Per mysql documentation the new generic way to reset the root password is as follows:
The preceding sections provide password-resetting instructions
specifically for Windows and Unix and Unix-like systems.
Alternatively, on any platform, you can reset the password using the
mysql client (but this approach is less secure):
Stop the MySQL server if necessary, then restart it with the
--skip-grant-tables option. This enables anyone to connect without a password and with all privileges, and disables account-management
statements such as ALTER USER and SET PASSWORD. Because this is
insecure, if the server is started with the --skip-grant-tables
option, it enables --skip-networking automatically to prevent remote
connections.
Connect to the MySQL server using the mysql client; no password is
necessary because the server was started with --skip-grant-tables:
shell> mysql
In the mysql client, tell the server to reload the grant tables so that account-management statements work:
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Then change the 'root'#'localhost' account password. Replace the password with the password that you want to use.
To change the password for a root account with a different host name
part, modify the instructions to use that host name.
mysql> ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';
You should now be able to connect to the MySQL server as root using the
new password. Stop the server and restart it normally (without the
--skip-grant-tables and --skip-networking options).

Answer 24

You can use this command:
UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('newpwd') WHERE User='root';
after that please use flush:
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Answer 25

If you know the 'root' users password, log in to mysql with that credentials. Then execute the following query to update the password.
ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_passowrd';

Answer 26

The steps below worked for me. I'm using MySQL 8.* on Ubuntu
Stop MySQL service and check status to confirm the service stopped
sudo systemctl stop mysql
sudo systemctl status mysql
Edit the systemd config file so you can access MySQL without permission check
sudo systemctl edit mysql
Copy and paste the following 3 lines
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mysqld --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking
After pasting the lines CTRL+0 to save and then CTRL+X to exit
Reload mysql service and start it (starts the service with --skip-grant-table)
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start mysql
5.Now connect to MySQL server without password
sudo mysql -u root
6.Load the grant tables by running
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Reset the root password
mysql> ALTER USER 'root'#'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH
mysql_native_password BY 'YourPasswordHere';
Close the mysql connection
mysql> exit
Revert the modification done on the mysql systemd file
sudo systemctl revert mysql
Reload the mysql daemon for changes to take place.
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Lastly restart the MySQL service
sudo systemctl restart mysql
Now connect to mysql with the new password set in step 7
You can visit this link reset root password for mysql 8 for more details.

Answer 27

Instead of resetting the password there is a work around on the local machine if you have setup phpmyadmin to connect without giving the password or username. Check this out by starting mysql, apache etc. I have xampp installed in my local machine. So starting the xampp will start all the necessary services. Now going to http://localhost/phpmyadmin shows me all the databases. This confirms that you have saved the username and passsword in the config file of phpmyadmin which can be found in the phpmyadmin install location. If you have xampp installed the phpmyadmin folder can be found in the root folder of xampp installation. Search for the word password in the config.inc.php file. There you will find the password and username.

Answer 28

You can easily change the mysql password if deployed on xampp through provided phpadmin gui.
phpMyAdmin -> User Accounts -> Edit Privileges (Select the intended user) -> Change Password (Tab)

Answer 29

for mysql 5.6 this command works and you can set password through the wizard:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.6

Answer 30

I had to go this route on Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS. It is somewhat of a mix of some of the other answers above - but none of them helped. I spent an hour or more trying all other suggestions from MySql website to everything on SO, I finally got it working with:
Note: while it showed Enter password for user root, I didnt have the original password so I just entered the same password to be used as the new password.
Note: there was no /var/log/mysqld.log only /var/log/mysql/error.log
Also note this did not work for me:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.7
Nor did:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure --force mysql-server-5.5
Make MySQL service directory.
sudo mkdir /var/run/mysqld
Give MySQL user permission to write to the service directory.
sudo chown mysql: /var/run/mysqld
Then:
kill the current mysqld pid
run mysqld with sudo /usr/sbin/mysqld &
run /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
Output from mysql_secure_installation
root#myServer:~# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
Securing the MySQL server deployment.
Enter password for user root:
VALIDATE PASSWORD PLUGIN can be used to test passwords
and improve security. It checks the strength of password
and allows the users to set only those passwords which are
secure enough. Would you like to setup VALIDATE PASSWORD plugin?
Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No: no
Using existing password for root.
Change the password for root ? ((Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
New password:
Re-enter new password:
By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user,
allowing anyone to log into MySQL without having to have
a user account created for them. This is intended only for
testing, and to make the installation go a bit smoother.
You should remove them before moving into a production
environment.
Remove anonymous users? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
Success.
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from
'localhost'. This ensures that someone cannot guess at
the root password from the network.
Disallow root login remotely? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
Success.
By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that
anyone can access. This is also intended only for testing,
and should be removed before moving into a production
environment.
Remove test database and access to it? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
Dropping test database...
Success.
Removing privileges on test database...
Success.
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes
made so far will take effect immediately.
Reload privilege tables now? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : y
Success.
All done!