====== Reset MySQL root Password ====== You may need to reset the root password of the MySQL server. First stop the MySQL server. cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo service mysql stop Prepare a directory needed to manually start the MySQL server. cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo mkdir /var/run/mysqld cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo chown mysql /var/run/mysqld Now lets start up the mysql daemon and skip the grant tables which store the passwords. cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables & Now you should be able to connect to mysql without a password. Execute the following commands. cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ mysql -u root -e "update user set Password=PASSWORD('new-password') where user='root';" cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ mysql -u root -e "flush privileges;" Kill the MySQL you started above. To do that you first need to know the relevant process IDs. Execute the following cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ ps -ef | grep mysql root 9708 7231 0 05:55 pts/0 00:00:00 sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables root 9709 9708 0 05:55 pts/0 00:00:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables mysql 10160 9709 0 05:55 pts/0 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/mysqld --basedir=/usr --datadir=/.data/RACHEL/mysql --plugin-d ir=/usr/lib/mysql/plugin --user=mysql --skip-grant-tables --log-error=/var/log/mysql/error.log --pid-file=/var/run/mysql d/mysqld.pid --socket=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock --port=3306 --log-syslog=1 --log-syslog-facility=daemon --log-syslog-t ag= cap 10255 9681 0 05:59 pts/1 00:00:00 grep mysql Above the process ID to kill are 9708, 9709 and 10160. You do this by executing the following. cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo kill -9 9708 cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo kill -9 9709 cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo kill -9 10160 If you execute the following again you should no longer see any MySQL server processes running like follows. cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ ps -ef | grep mysql cap 10389 9681 0 06:05 pts/1 00:00:00 grep mysql Restart the MySQL server normally. cap@CMAL-eabf:~$ sudo service mysql start You should have reset the root password of the MySQL server.