How to Reset MySQL Root Password in Ubuntu

How to Reset the MySQL Root Password on Ubuntu

Last updated on | 178 replies

In this article we will reset the MySQL root password in Ubuntu by starting MySQL with the --skip-grant-tables option.

Introduction

You’ve forgotten the MySQL root password or it has mysteriously changed 🤔.  Thankfully there is a way around this using the --skip-grant-tables option.

Before you begin, if you are having problems logging into phpMyAdmin and getting an error Access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’ , but you’re certain your root password is correct, please refer to this article first: Can’t log into phpMyAdmin: mysqli_real_connect(): (HY000/1698): Access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’

1. Confirm MySQL version

Firstly, you must confirm which version of MySQL on Ubuntu you are running as commands will be different.

mysql -V

If on MySQL version 8, you will see something like:

mysql Ver <span class="red">8.0.20</span>-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 for Linux on x86_64 ((Ubuntu))

If you are on MySQL version 5, you will see something similar to:

mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib <span class="red">5.7.36</span>, for Linux (x86_64) using  EditLine wrapper

2. Restart MySQL with skip-grant-table

In order to skip the grant tables and reset the root password, we must first stop the MySQL service. Enter your Linux password if prompted.

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Ensure the directory /var/run/mysqld exists and correct owner set.

sudo mkdir /var/run/mysqld
sudo chown mysql /var/run/mysqld

Now start MySQL with the --skip-grant-tables option. The & is required here.

sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables&

You should see something similar:

[1] 1283
user@server:~$ 2019-02-12T11:15:59.872516Z mysqld_safe Logging to syslog.
2019-02-12T11:15:59.879527Z mysqld_safe Logging to '/var/log/mysql/error.log'.
2019-02-12T11:15:59.922502Z mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql

Now press ENTER to return to the Linux BASH prompt.

3. Change MySQL Root Password

You can now log in to the MySQL root account without a password.

sudo mysql --user=root mysql

Once logged in, you will see the mysql> prompt.

MySQL 8 – Reset Root Password

For MySQL 8 on Ubuntu, run following commands.

UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=null WHERE User='root';
flush privileges;

Replace your_password_here with your own. (Generate a strong password here)

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '<span class="red">your_password_here</span>';

Flush privileges again.

flush privileges;

Exit MySQL.

exit

Now skip to Step 4 below.

MySQL 5.7 – Reset Root Password

For MySQL 5.7 on Ubuntu, run this command to change the root password. Replace your_password_here with your own. (Generate a strong password here)

update user set authentication_string=PASSWORD('<span class="red">your_password_here</span>') where user='root';

Change the auth plugin to mysql_native_password.

update user set plugin="mysql_native_password" where User='root';

Flush privileges.

flush privileges;

Exit MySQL.

exit

Now skip to Step 4 below.

MySQL 5.6 – Reset Root Password

For MySQL 5.6 on Ubuntu, run this command to change the root password. Replace your_password_here with your own. (Generate a strong password here)

update user set Password=PASSWORD('<span class="red">your_password_here</span>') where user='root';

Change the auth plugin to mysql_native_password.

update user set plugin="mysql_native_password" where User='root';

Flush privileges.

flush privileges;

Exit MySQL.

exit

Now skip to Step 4 below.

4. Test New Root Password

Make sure all MySQL processes are stopped before starting the service again.

sudo killall -u mysql

If you see a message similar to below, press ENTER to continue.

2020-05-30T07:23:38.547616Z mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /var/lib/mysql/ubuntu.pid ended

Start MySQL again.

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start

Log in to MySQL again and you should now be prompted for a password.

sudo mysql -p -u root

Enter your MySQL root password. If correct, you should see something like:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 8
Server version: 8.0.20-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 (Ubuntu)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2020, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql>

You’re all done!

Let me know if this helped. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, or 🍊 buy me a smoothie.

178 replies

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  2. Great article !! Thank you.

    I had a problem to restart Mysql with –skip-grant-tables. I got this error message:
    &gt; Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/var/mysql/mysql.sock’ (38)

    Checking the error log I found Mysql could not be started because unknown variable ‘log-syslog=1’:
    &gt; [ERROR] [MY-000067] [Server] unknown variable ‘log-syslog=1’.

    To solve this edit the file /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld_safe_syslog.cnf and comment the second line:

    [mysqld_safe]
#syslog
    Reply

  10. geary@NUC:/var/run/mysql$ sudo mysql –user=root mysql
    ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock’ (2)

    Reply

    1. To solve this edit the file /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld_safe_syslog.cnf and comment the second line:

      [mysqld_safe]
#syslog
      Reply

  13. Finally it is done.
    I have been trying it for hour from other websites but no progress but this page solved my problem.
    as of January 29, 2021 with version 

    
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.32, for Linux (x86_64) using  EditLine wrapper
``` It is working 
Thanks A lot
    Reply

  17. You won’t believe it but I spent 3 hours on Google to find your solution! Thank you so much for allowing me to finally go to sleep now!

    Reply

  20. Thank you for this article. It was the only article I found that really worked, and allowed me to set a root password for mysql, after I lost the original password.

    Reply