Access Denied for MYSQL ERROR 1045

Question

I just got a new macbook pro (OS X 10.8.2) and am attempting to get mysql set up on it. So far I've been able to get it installed but I cannot get my root user access (or any user for that matter). I plan on using this for Python, on my other computer I only use MYSQL (no MAMP) and I prefer to keep it that way.

For reference, I did the following:

$ alias mysql=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql $ sudo /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM/MySQLCOM start $ alias mysqladmin=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin

When i enter mysql or mysql -u root -p it gives me this:

ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

or

ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'jmitch'@'localhost' (using password: NO) Depending on which phrasing I use

MYSQL is running in my system preferences. Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Maybe updating the package the updater overwrote the root password.

To restore it:

Stop mysqld deamons.

$ sudo service mysqld stop

Go to mysql/bin directory

$ cd /usr/bin

Start a mysql deamon with this option:

$ sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

Open another terminal and open a mysql session to execute this:

$ mysql

mysql> use mysql;

see Note1 below for next line.
mysql> UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD('YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD_HERE') WHERE user = 'root';

mysql> exit;

Now kill the mysqld_safe process and restart mysqld normally:

$ sudo service mysqld start

Note1: password is the column name in table mysql.user prior to version 5.7. After which it became authentication_string. Change your update statement accordingly.