How To Recover MySQL Root Password

In this article I will explain how to recover MySQL root password. If you have forgotten the MySQL root password you will get this error “ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user ‘root’@’localhost’ (using password: YES)” . You can recover MySQL database root password using the following five easy steps:

Steps:

1. Stop MySQL service/process.
2. Start MySQL server in safe mode with –-skip-grant-tables options so that it will not ask for a password.
3. Connect MySQL server as the root user.
4. Update/Set a new root password.
5. Restart MySQL server.

Follow the below command to do the above steps.

Step #1: Stop MySQL Service/Process

# /etc/init.d/mysqld stop

Sample output:

Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld.

Step #2: Start MySQL Server In Safe Mode With –skip-grant-tables

# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

Sample output:

[1] 4977
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
mysqld_safe[6025]: started

Step #3: Connect MySQL Server Using MySQL Client

# mysql -u root

Sample output:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 228142449
Server version: 5.1.73-log Source distribution

Copyright (c) 2000, 2013, 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>

Step #4: Update/Set New MySQL Root User Password

mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("NEW-ROOT-PASSWORD") where User='root';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

Step #5: Restart MySQL Server

# /etc/init.d/mysqld stop
# /etc/init.d/mysqld start

Now connect MySQL server with new root password.

# mysql -u root -p

That’s it.

Thanks:)