Changing the root password

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October 1st, 2012, 09:26 AM

EgamiRorrim

Registered User

Join Date: Oct 2012

Posts: 1

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Changing the root password

I have a wiki server set up using mysql, and the root password is blank (just need to press Enter/Return when prompted for the password). I would like to change the root password to something else, but to no avail. I was able to find some websites with some instructions on how to accomplish this, but I cannot get any of them to work. For example, one common way is the mysql command to set the root password:

Code:

mysqladmin -u root password NEWPASSWORD

So I try this command, but I get an error (note, a1b2 is not the password I am going to use):

Code:

csapp@wiki[~]->mysqladmin -u root password a1b2 
mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed 
error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)'

I then try another mysqladmin command (one that changes the old password to a new one). The format for this command is the following:

Code:

mysqladmin -u root -p'oldpassword' password newpass

However, this also gave me an error:

Code:

csapp@wiki[~]->mysqladmin -u root -p'' password '123abc' 
Enter password: 
mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed 
error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)'

I then try to just use mysql commands to change the password. However, one common command I find is the following:

Code:

use mysql;

I know that the "use" command switches databases; however, when I display the databases (using the "show database" command), this is what is returned:

Code:

+----------+ 
| Database | 
+----------+ 
| test | 
| wikidb | 
+----------+

Regardless, I try the "use mysql" command, but this is the error I get:

Code:

ERROR 1044 (42000): Access denied for user 'root'@'%' to database 'mysql'

I figured that I was just supposed to use the "wikidb" database, so I execute "use wikidb" which executes fine. I then use the mysql command to set user passwords:

Code:

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

However, when I execute it, I have to type it in like this:

Code:

UPDATE user SET user_password=PASSWORD('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE user_name ='root';

So I execute that (while replacing the NEW_PASSWORD with the password I want), but this is what is returned:

Code:

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) 
Rows matched: 0 Changed: 0 Warnings: 0

I know this means that nothing was changed, so I check the list of users for wikidb.user, and I notice that there is not a user called "root" (there is one called WikiSysop, but I don't think those two are the same). Can someone help me out? Also, just some minor notes, I cannot execute "flush privileges" because it gives me this error:

Code:

ERROR 1227 (HY000): Access denied; you need the RELOAD privilege for this operation

However, when I execute the "show grants" command, this is returned:

Code:

+--------------------------------------------------+ 
| Grants for root@% | 
+--------------------------------------------------+ 
| GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'root'@'%' | 
| GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `wikidb`.* TO 'root'@'%' | 
+--------------------------------------------------+

I checked, and I I am the root user, so doesn't this mean I should have the RELOAD privilege?

Changing the root password

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