Easy way to reset MySQL / MariaDB root password

In this guide, we will learn how to reset the MySQL / MariaDB root password in the easiest way in case you lose, forget or just want to change it.

Reset MySQL / MariaDB root password

To reset the reset MySQL / MariaDB root password, perform the following steps;

Note: You must execute the following command as root or with sudo privileges.

Stop MariaDB / MySQl service

Use one of the following two commands to log in to the server hosting the database and stop the database service;

systemctl stop mariadb

systemctl stop mysql

Restart the database in safe mode

Use the following command to start the database in safe mode;

mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &

This will bypass the authentication process and disable any connections to the database. Therefore, you can log in to the database without a password.

Login database

Use one of the following two commands to log in to the database as the root user;

mysql

Either

mysql -u root

Reset root password

After logging in to the database, run the following command to reload the grant tables and reset the root password.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

update mysql.user set password=PASSWORD("StrongPASSW0rd") where user='root';

Reload the authorization form and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit

Stop the database service

Since the database service is started to run in the background to reset the password, run the following command to stop it safely. This will prompt you for the new password set above.

mysqladmin -u root -p shutdown

Start the database service

This is now complete and you can now start the database normally.

systemctl start mariadb

You have successfully reset the MySQL / MariaDB root password and you can now access the database with all administrative privileges.

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