Change a lost MySQL password

Procédure

Connect with the root user. Type:

/etc/init.d/mysql stop

To stop MySQL server, then launch it, with the following command, to ignore user privileges:

/usr/sbin/mysqld --skip-grant-tables &

Enter the following command:

mysql mysql

To connect to MySQL database. To change root password, for example, enter:

update user set password=PASSWORD("my_new_password") where user='root';

The server returns:

  Query OK, 1 rows affected (0.04 sec)
  Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0

Exit MySQL engine, by typing:

quit

We just have, now, to relaunch MySQL in standard mode. Enter:

killall mysqld

/etc/init.d/mysql start