MacOSX homebrew mysql root password

Question

None of these worked for me. I think i already had mysql somewhere on my computer so a password was set there or something. After spending hours trying every solution out there this is what worked for me:

$ brew services stop mysql
$ pkill mysqld
$ rm -rf /usr/local/var/mysql/ # NOTE: this will delete your existing database!!!
$ brew postinstall mysql
$ brew services restart mysql
$ mysql -uroot

all credit to @Ghrua

Just run this command (where NEWPASS is your password):

$(brew --prefix mysql)/bin/mysqladmin -u root password NEWPASS

I have had the same error and fixed it this way.

In case you have inadvertently set and forgot the root password, and you don't want to wipe all your databases and start over because you are lazy and forgot to have a back up solution in place, and you are using a fairly recent Homebrew install (Winter 2013), here are steps to reset your password for MySQL.

Stop the currently running MySQL instance

launchctl unload -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist

Now start mysql by hand skipping the grant tables and networking

$(brew --prefix mysql)/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking

Note that if when you run echo $(brew --prefix mysql) and it does not respond as "/usr/local/opt/mysql" in bash, you will need to adjust the path accordingly.

Once you have done this, you now should have a running, unprotected MySQL instance up.

Log in and set the password

mysql -u root

At the prompt, enter the following MySQL command to set a new password for the effected user.

mysql> update mysql.user set password=PASSWORD('new_password_here') WHERE user='root';

If all went to plan it should say:

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.02 sec)
Rows matched: 4  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0

Exit out of the MySQL prompt.

mysql> exit
Bye

Stop server:

mysqladmin -u root shutdown

Now, lets put back the launch daemon so we have our MySQL at the ready again:

launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist

Congratulations. You've just reset your mysql root password. Pour yourself a coffee and get a backup solution in place!

I had the same problem a couple days ago. It happens when you install mysql via homebrew and run the initialization script (mysql_install_db) before starting the mysql daemon.

To fix it, you can delete mysql data files, restart the service and then run the initialization script:

launchctl unload -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
rm -r /usr/local/var/mysql/
launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
unset TMPDIR
mysql_install_db --verbose --user=`whoami` --basedir="$(brew --prefix mysql)" --datadir=/usr/local/var/mysql --tmpdir=/tmp

Got this error after installing mysql via home brew.

So first remove the installation. Then Reinstall via Homebrew

brew update
brew doctor
brew install mysql

Then restart mysql service

 mysql.server restart

Then run this command to set your new root password.

 mysql_secure_installation

Finally it will ask to reload the privileges. Say yes. Then login to mysql again. And use the new password you have set.

mysql -u root -p