Set / Change / Reset the MySQL root password on Ubuntu Linux

Tested on
- Ubuntu Linux 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon and MySQL 5.0.45. (2007-10-21)
- Ubuntu Linux 6.06 Dapper Drake and MySQL 4.1.15.

Set / change / reset the MySQL root password on Ubuntu Linux. Enter the following lines in your terminal.

1. Stop the MySQL Server.
   

   sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop



2. Start the mysqld configuration.
   

   sudo mysqld --skip-grant-tables &



3. Login to MySQL as root.
   

   mysql -u root mysql



4. Replace YOURNEWPASSWORD with your new password!
   

   UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('YOURNEWPASSWORD') WHERE User='root'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; exit;

Note: This method is not regarded as the securest way of resetting the password. However it works.


References

MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual: How to Reset the Root Password