If you have never assigned a root
password for MySQL, the server does not require a password at all for connecting as root
. However, this is insecure. For instructions on assigning a password, see Section 2.10.4, “Securing the Initial MySQL Accounts”.If you know the root
password and want to change it, see Section 13.7.1.1, “ALTER USER Syntax”, and Section 13.7.1.7, “SET PASSWORD Syntax”.
If you assigned a root
password previously but have forgotten it, you can assign a new password. The following sections provide instructions for Windows and Unix and Unix-like systems, as well as generic instructions that apply to any system.
On Windows, use the following procedure to reset the password for the MySQL 'root'@'localhost'
account. To change the password for a root
account with a different host name part, modify the instructions to use that host name.
If your server is not running as a service, you may need to use the Task Manager to force it to stop.
MySQL 5.7.6 and later:
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';
MySQL 5.7.5 and earlier:
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('MyNewPass');
C:\mysql-init.txt
.--init-file
option (notice that the backslash in the option value is doubled):
C:\>cd "C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\bin"
C:\>mysqld --init-file=C:\\mysql-init.txt
If you installed MySQL to a different location, adjust the cd command accordingly.
The server executes the contents of the file named by the --init-file
option at startup, changing the 'root'@'localhost'
account password.
To have server output to appear in the console window rather than in a log file, add the --console
option to the mysqld command.
If you installed MySQL using the MySQL Installation Wizard, you may need to specify a --defaults-file
option. For example:
C:\>mysqld
--defaults-file="C:\\ProgramData\\MySQL\\MySQL Server 5.7\\my.ini"
--init-file=C:\\mysql-init.txt
The appropriate --defaults-file
setting can be found using the Services Manager: From the menu, select , then , then . Find the MySQL service in the list, right-click it, and choose theProperties
option. The Path to executable
field contains the --defaults-file
setting.
C:\mysql-init.txt
.You should now be able to connect to the MySQL server as root
using the new password. Stop the MySQL server and restart it normally. If you run the server as a service, start it from the Windows Services window. If you start the server manually, use whatever command you normally use.
If the ALTER USER
statement fails to reset the password, try repeating the procedure using the following statements to modify the user
table directly:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string = PASSWORD('MyNewPass'), password_expired = 'N' WHERE User = 'root' AND Host = 'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
On Unix, use the following procedure to reset the password for the MySQL 'root'@'localhost'
account. To change the password for a root
account with a different host name part, modify the instructions to use that host name.
The instructions assume that you will start the MySQL server from the Unix login account that you normally use for running it. For example, if you run the server using the mysql
login account, you should log in as mysql
before using the instructions. Alternatively, you can log in as root
, but in this case you must start mysqld with the --user=mysql
option. If you start the server as root
without using --user=mysql
, the server may create root
-owned files in the data directory, such as log files, and these may cause permission-related problems for future server startups. If that happens, you will need to either change the ownership of the files to mysql
or remove them.
mysql
)..pid
file that contains the server’s process ID. The exact location and name of this file depend on your distribution, host name, and configuration. Common locations are /var/lib/mysql/
,/var/run/mysqld/
, and /usr/local/mysql/data/
. Generally, the file name has an extension of .pid
and begins with either mysqld
or your system’s host name.
Stop the MySQL server by sending a normal kill
(not kill -9
) to the mysqld process. Use the actual path name of the .pid
file in the following command:
shell> kill `cat /mysql-data-directory/host_name.pid`
Use backticks (not forward quotation marks) with the cat
command. These cause the output of cat
to be substituted into the kill
command.
MySQL 5.7.6 and later:
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';
MySQL 5.7.5 and earlier:
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('MyNewPass');
/home/me/mysql-init
. The file contains the password, so do not save it where it can be read by other users. If you are not logged in as mysql
(the user the server runs as), make sure that the file has permissions that permit mysql
to read it.--init-file
option:
shell> mysqld_safe --init-file=/home/me/mysql-init &
The server executes the contents of the file named by the --init-file
option at startup, changing the 'root'@'localhost'
account password.
/home/me/mysql-init
.You should now be able to connect to the MySQL server as root
using the new password. Stop the server and restart it normally.
If the ALTER USER
statement fails to reset the password, try repeating the procedure using the following statements to modify the user
table directly:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string = PASSWORD('MyNewPass'), password_expired = 'N' WHERE User = 'root' AND Host = 'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
The preceding sections provide password-resetting instructions specifically for Windows and Unix and Unix-like systems. Alternatively, on any platform, you can reset the password using the mysql client (but this approach is less secure):
--skip-grant-tables
option. This enables anyone to connect without a password and with all privileges, and disables account-management statements such as ALTER USER
andSET PASSWORD
. Because this is insecure, you might want to use --skip-grant-tables
in conjunction with --skip-networking
to prevent remote clients from connecting.--skip-grant-tables
:
shell> mysql
mysql
client, tell the server to reload the grant tables so that account-management statements work:
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Then change the 'root'@'localhost'
account password. Replace the password with the password that you want to use. To change the password for a root
account with a different host name part, modify the instructions to use that host name.
MySQL 5.7.6 and later:
mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';
MySQL 5.7.5 and earlier:
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('MyNewPass');
You should now be able to connect to the MySQL server as root
using the new password. Stop the server and restart it normally (without the --skip-grant-tables
and --skip-networking
options).
If the ALTER USER
statement fails to reset the password, try repeating the procedure using the following statements to modify the user
table directly:
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string = PASSWORD('MyNewPass') WHERE User = 'root' AND Host = 'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;