1. Stop mysql service
#/etc/init.d/mysql stop
Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld.
2. Start to MySQL server w/o password:
#mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
[1] 5988
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
mysqld_safe[6025]: started
3. Connect to mysql server using mysql client:
#mysql -u root
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>
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
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-tables
6. Start MySQL server and test it
#/etc/init.d/mysql start
#mysql -u root -p