Use the instructions for resetting the root password - but instead of resetting the root password, we'll going to forcefully INSERT a record into the mysql.user table

In the init file, use this instead

INSERT INTO mysql.user (Host, User, Password) VALUES ('%', 'root', password('YOURPASSWORD'));
GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'root'@'%' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Well the easiest way to reset root password is:

• restart mysqld --skip-grant-tables option. This enables anyone to connect without a password and with all privileges. Because this is insecure, you might want to use --skip-grant-tables in conjunction with --skip-networking to prevent remote clients from connecting.

• Connect to the mysqld server with this command:

• shell> mysql Issue the following statements in the mysql client. Replace the password with the password that you want to use.

• mysql> UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('MyNewPass') -> WHERE User='root'; mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

• Stop the server, then restart it normally (without the --skip-grant-tables and --skip-networking options).

Source Mysql documentation and personal experience:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/resetting-permissions.html

A simple way to reset root password on Linux systems :

sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.5

Checkout some other reasons for Access denied :

https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/problems-connecting.html

It didn't like my user privilege so I SUDO it. (in bash << sudo set user and password) (this gives username of root and sets the password to nothing) (On Mac)

sudo mysql -uroot -p

Try the following commands

~$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
~$ sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
~$ 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>


mysql> use mysql;


mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("root") where User='root';


mysql> flush privileges;


mysql> quit


~$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop


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


~$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start


~$ mysql -u root -p


* MySQL Community Server 5.6.35 is started
~$ mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1
Server version: 5.6.35 MySQL Community Server (GPL)


Copyright (c) 2000, 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.


Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.


Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.


mysql>

Try out the following steps to overcome this issue:

1. Open terminal / command prompt and navigate to the bin folder of the MySQL installation folder. Then run the command mysqld --console.
2. If you can see that line 171010 14:58:22 [Note] --secure-file-priv is set to NULL. Operations related to importing and exporting data are disabled, after executing the above command from the command prompt.
3. Then you need to check that the mysqld is either blocked by the Windows Firewall or another program.
4. If it's blocked by Windows Firewall then need to unblock from it and save settings.
5. To unblock the mysqld or mysql application, follow the below steps:
   1. Go to command prompt and type wf.msc to open the firewall settings.
   2. Click on Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall.
   3. Check the mysqld or mysqld instances are available in the list and check the checkbox for the domain, public and private and save the settings.
6. Return to the bin folder and try the command from step 1 again.
7. It should work fine and not show any errors.

It should be possible to run the MySQL console without any problems now!

I resolved the same issue using next sql and restarting MySQL server:

update mysql.user set Select_priv='Y',Insert_priv='Y',Update_priv='Y',Delete_priv='Y',Create_priv='Y',Drop_priv='Y',Reload_priv='Y',Shutdown_priv='Y',Process_priv='Y',File_priv='Y',Grant_priv='Y',References_priv='Y',Index_priv='Y',Alter_priv='Y',Show_db_priv='Y',Super_priv='Y',Create_tmp_table_priv='Y',Lock_tables_priv='Y',Execute_priv='Y',Repl_slave_priv='Y',Repl_client_priv='Y',Create_view_priv='Y',Show_view_priv='Y',Create_routine_priv='Y',Alter_routine_priv='Y',Create_user_priv='Y',Event_priv='Y',Trigger_priv='Y',Create_tablespace_priv='Y'
where user='root';

I worked on Access Denied for User 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES) for several hours, I have found following solution,

The answer to this problem was that in the my.cnf located within
/etc/mysql/my.cnf


the line was either
bind-address = 127.0.0.1
(or)
bind-address = localhost
(or)
bind-address = 0.0.0.0


I should prefer that 127.0.0.1


I should also prefer 0.0.0.0, it is more flexible
because which will allow all connections

I don't think you have to escape the --init-file parameter:

"C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\bin\mysqld.exe" --defaults-file="C:\\Program Files\\MySQL\\MySQL Server 5.6\\my.ini" --init-file=C:\\mysql-init.txt

Should be:

"C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\bin\mysqld.exe" --defaults-file="C:\\Program Files\\MySQL\\MySQL Server 5.6\\my.ini" --init-file=C:\mysql-init.txt

for the people who are facing below error in mysql 5.7+ version -

Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

1. Open new terminal

2. sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop ... MySQL Community Server 5.7.8-rc is stopped

3. sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables & this will skipp all grant level privileges and start the mysql in safe mode Sometimes the process got stucked just because of

grep: write error: Broken pipe 180102 11:32:28 mysqld_safe Logging to '/var/log/mysql/error.log'.

Simply press Ctrl+Z or Ctrl+C to interrupt and exit process

4. mysql -u root

Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 2 Server version: 5.7.8-rc MySQL Community Server (GPL)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

5. mysql> use mysql;

Reading table information for completion of table and column names You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed

6. mysql> update user set authentication_string=password('password') where user='root'; Query OK, 4 rows affected, 1 warning (0.03 sec) Rows matched: 4 Changed: 4 Warnings: 1

7. mysql> flush privileges; Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

8. mysql> quit Bye

9. sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

..180102 11:37:12 mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid ended . * MySQL Community Server 5.7.8-rc is stopped arif@ubuntu:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start .. * MySQL Community Server 5.7.8-rc is started

10. mysql -u root -p

    Enter password:

    Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 2 Server version: 5.7.8-rc MySQL Community Server (GPL)

after mysql 5.7+ version the column password replaced by name authentication_string from the mysql.user table.

hope these steps will help anyone, thanks.

for the above problem ur password in the system should matches with the password u have passed in the program because when u run the program it checks system's password as u have given root as a user so gives u an error and at the same time the record is not deleted from the database.

import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.Statement;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
class Delete
{
public static void main(String []k)
{
String url="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/student";


String user="root";
String pass="jacob234";
try
{
Connection myConnection=DriverManager.getConnection(url,user,pass);
Statement myStatement=myConnection.createStatement();
String deleteQuery="delete from students where id=2";
myStatement.executeUpdate(deleteQuery);
System.out.println("delete completed");
}catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
}
}

Keep ur system password as jacob234 and then run the code.

I resolved the same issue by running Workbench as administrator.

...I guess it's because of restrictions on company computers, in my case...

I faced this problem while installing Testlink on Ubuntu server, I followed these steps

mysql -u root
use mysql;
update user set password=PASSWORD("root") where User='root';
flush privileges;
quit

Now stop the instance and start again i.e

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start

in mysql 5.7 the password field has been replaced with authentication_string so you would do something like this instead

update user set authentication_string=PASSWORD("root") where User='root';

See this link MySQL user DB does not have password columns - Installing MySQL on OSX

If you have that same problem in MySql 5.7.+ :

Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'

it's because MySql 5.7 by default allow to connect with socket, which means you just connect with sudo mysql. If you run sql :

SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;

then you will see it :

+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| user             | authentication_string                     | plugin                | host      |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| root             |                                           | auth_socket           | localhost |
| mysql.session    | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| mysql.sys        | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| debian-sys-maint | *497C3D7B50479A812B89CD12EC3EDA6C0CB686F0 | mysql_native_password | localhost |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

To allow connection with root and password, then update the values in the table with command :

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'Current-Root-Password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Then run the select command again and you'll see it has changed :

+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| user             | authentication_string                     | plugin                | host      |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
| root             | *2F2377C1BC54BE827DC8A4EE051CBD57490FB8C6 | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| mysql.session    | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| mysql.sys        | *THISISNOTAVALIDPASSWORDTHATCANBEUSEDHERE | mysql_native_password | localhost |
| debian-sys-maint | *497C3D7B50479A812B89CD12EC3EDA6C0CB686F0 | mysql_native_password | localhost |
+------------------+-------------------------------------------+-----------------------+-----------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

And that's it. You can run this process after running and completing the sudo mysql_secure_installation command.

For mariadb, use

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('manager');

to set password. More at https://mariadb.com/kb/en/set-password/

With me was the same problem, but it was caused, because i was using the mysql server on 32 (bit) and the workbench was running on 64(bit) version. the server and the workbench need to has the same version.

xpress

I was using ubuntu 18 and simply installed MySQL (password:root) with the following commands.

sudo apt install mysql-server
sudo mysql_secure_installation

When I tried to log in with the normal ubuntu user it was throwing me this issue.

ERROR 1698 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'

But I was able to login to MySQL via the super user. Using the following commands I was able to log in via a normal user.

sudo mysql
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'root';
exit;

Then you should be able to login to Mysql with the normal account.

I was facing the same problem when I'm trying to connecting Mysql database using the Laravel application. I would like to recommend please check the password for the user. MySQL password should not have special characters like #, &, etc...

If you are getting this error in Workbench but you are able to log in from terminal then follow this steps.

First simply log in with your current password:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then change your password because having low strength password gives error sometimes.

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new-strong-password';


FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Then simply exit and again login with your new password:

quit


sudo mysql -u root -p

Once you successfully logged in type the command:

use mysql;

It should show a message like 'Database changed' then type:

UPDATE user SET plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root';

After that type:

UPDATE mysql.user set authentication_string=PASSWORD('new-strong-password') where user='root';

Then type:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Then simply exit:

quit

Now try to log in with your new password in your WORKBENCH. Hope it will work. Thank you.

MySQL default password for root is assigned depending on the way you have installed MySQL.

If you have installed it from MySQL Yum repository, MySQL SUSE repository, or RPM packages directly downloaded from Oracle, you can obtain the password using following command:

sudo grep 'temporary password' /var/log/mysqld.log

For my case, I found this error after fresh installation of mysql on Mac OS Big Sur.

What i did to fix it was: I click on the apple logo, go to system preferences and then click on mysql.

There's an initialize database button on the opened settings window, I click on that, and then when I try to access again, it's solved.

In my case:

• I set plugin authentication to "" (empty) and I can't run mysql server:

SOLUTION:

1. nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf
2. edit:

[mysqld]

skip-grant-tables

3. service mysql restart
4. mysql -u root
5. use mysql
6. UPDATE mysql.user SET plugin = 'mysql_native_password' WHERE User = 'root'
7. flush privileges

cause might be missing mysqld file in /var/run/mysqld

sudo service mysql stop
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables
sudo service mysql start

if file does not exits then create file

mkdir -p /var/run/mysqld
chown mysql:mysql /var/run/mysqld

check now you are able to login mysql -uroot -p123 otherwise do

sudo mysql -u root
use mysql;
show tables;
describe user;
update user set authentication_string=password('1111') where user='root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;
mysql -uroot -p123

link - mysqld_safe Directory '/var/run/mysqld' for UNIX socket file don't exists

alter user 'root'@'localhost' identified with mysql_native_password by '$your_password$';

it worked for me.

note: use strong password for example

alter user 'root'@'localhost' identified with mysql_native_password by 'root';

For windows:-

If the instance configuration fails with similar issue and if you cannot log in to the root account.

Steps I followed to fix the issue:-

• Stop MySql service if running.
• Uninstall MySql using 'remove' option from the installation wizard.
• If MySql service is not removed from services,

sc delete <MYSQL_SERVICE_NAME>

• Delete all data containing in the MySql folder ('Program files', 'Program data' or the custom installation directory you have given).
• Remove MySql path from the environmental variable.
• Disable windows firewall.
• Reinstall and config root account with new password.

Same issue occurred with me also, turned out my db username was wrong