Reset MySQL Root Password in CentOS

In your development work, there are sometimes you forgot the mysql root password so you cannot make any system-level change to the mysql server. This quick tutorial tells you how to reset mysql root password in CentOS.

1. First, need to stop MySQL:

   root# service mysqld stop

2. Then, start MySQL in safe mode:

   root# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

3. Log into MySQL as root:

   root# mysql -u root

4. Reset the password using the following command:

   mysql> update mysql.user set password=PASSWORD("YourNewPassW0RD") where User='root';

   or for MySQL 5.7 and later:

   ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YouNetPassWORD';

5. Do flush privileges and logout mysql:

   mysql> flush privileges; exit;

6. Restart the service:

   root# service mysqld restart

That’s it 🙂