Monday, May 16, 2011

Recover MySQL root Password

You can recover MySQL database server password with following five easy steps.

Step # 1: Stop the MySQL server process.

Step # 2: Start the MySQL (mysqld) server/daemon process with the --skip-grant-tables option so that it will not prompt for password.

Step # 3: Connect to mysql server as the root user.

Step # 4: Setup new mysql root account password i.e. reset mysql password.

Step # 5: Exit and restart the MySQL server.

Here are commands you need to type for each step (login as the root user):
Step # 1 : Stop mysql service
# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
Output:
Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld.Step # 2: Start to MySQL server w/o password:
# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
Output:
[1] 5988
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
mysqld_safe[6025]: startedStep # 3: Connect to mysql server using mysql client:
# mysql -u root
Output:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1 to server version: 4.1.15-Debian_1-log
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
mysql>Step # 4: Setup 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: Stop MySQL Server:
# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
Output:
Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld
STOPPING server from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
mysqld_safe[6186]: ended
[1]+  Done                    mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tablesStep # 6: Start MySQL server and test it
# /etc/init.d/mysql start
# mysql -u root -p

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The intent of this blog is to share my work experience and spread some smart solutions on Linux to System Administrators. I'm hoping the solutions shared in this Blog would be helpful and come as a handy for Viewers. Brief about me: I have 18+ years work experience in System and Cloud Administration domain, primarily works on VMware Cloud Products (vSphere, vCloud Director, vRealize Automation, NSX Adv. Load Balancer, vROps).