Go2Linux | Linux Operating System

If you ever loose your mysql root password (remember is not the same as the system root password) you can recover it following this steps

Start MySQL in safe mode

mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

Enter the console as root

mysql -u root

Set the new password

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('new_password') WHERE User='root';

Update the privileges

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

The mysqld_safe command could be different in your distribution this one is for CentOS, for you could be safe_mysql or just mysql with the --skip-grant-tables option.