Setting the MySQL root user password on OS X

Question

I just installed MySQL on Mac OS X. The next step was setting the root user password, so I did this next:

1. Launch the terminal app to access the Unix command line.

2. Under the Unix prompt I executed these commands:

   $ cd /usr/local/mysql/bin
   $ ./mysqladmin -u root password 'password'
   

But, when I execute the command

$ ./mysql -u root, this is the answer:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 224
Server version: 5.5.13 MySQL Community Server (GPL)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql>

I can get into the mysql command line without any password!

Why is this?

Answer 1

Try the command FLUSH PRIVILEGES when you log into the MySQL terminal. If that doesn't work, try the following set of commands while in the MySQL terminal

$ mysql -u root
mysql> USE mysql;
mysql> UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD("NEWPASSWORD") WHERE User='root';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> quit

Change out NEWPASSWORD with whatever password you want. Should be all set!

Update: As of MySQL 5.7, the password field has been renamed authentication_string. When changing the password, use the following query to change the password. All other commands remain the same:

mysql> UPDATE user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD("NEWPASSWORD") WHERE User='root';

Update: On 8.0.15 (maybe already before that version) the PASSWORD() function does not work, as mentioned in the comments below. You have to use:

UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string='password' WHERE User='root';

Answer 2

If you don't remember the password you set for root and need to reset it, follow these steps:

1. Stop the mysqld server, this varies per install
2. Run the server in safe mode with privilege bypass

sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables;

3. In a new window connect to the database, set a new password and flush the permissions & quit:

mysql -u root

For MySQL older than MySQL 5.7 use:

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('your-password') WHERE User='root';

For MySQL 5.7+ use:

USE mysql;

UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD("your-password") WHERE User='root';

Refresh and quit:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

\q

4. Stop the safe mode server and start your regular server back. The new password should work now. Worked like a charm for me :)

Answer 3

Once you've installed MySQL, you'll need to establish the "root" password. If you don't establish a root password, then, well, there is no root password, and you don't need a password to log in.

So, that being said, you need to establish a root password.

Using terminal enter the following:

Installation: Set root user password:

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password NEW_PASSWORD_HERE

If you've made a mistake, or need to change the root password use the following:

Change root password:

cd /usr/local/mysql/bin/
./mysql -u root -p
> Enter password: [type old password invisibly]

use mysql;
update user set password=PASSWORD("NEW_PASSWORD_HERE") where User='root';
flush privileges;
quit

Answer 4

The instructions provided in the mysql website is so clear, than the above mentioned

1. $ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop
2. $ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start --skip-grant-tables
3. /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql
4. mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
5. mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';
6. mysql> exit or Ctrl + z
7. $ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop
8. $ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start
9. /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql -u root -p
10. Enter the new password i.e MyNewPass

Reference: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/resetting-permissions.html

Answer 5

1. Stop the mysqld server.

   • Mac OSX: System Preferences > MySQL > Stop MySQL Server
   • Linux (From Terminal): sudo systemctl stop mysqld.service

2. Start the server in safe mode with privilege bypass

   • From Terminal: sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

3. In a new terminal window:

   • sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u root

4. This will open the mysql command line. From here enter:

   • UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('NewPassword') WHERE User='root';

   • FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

   • quit

5. Stop the mysqld server again and restart it in normal mode.

   • Mac OSX (From Terminal): sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server restart
   • Linux Terminal: sudo systemctl restart mysqld

Answer 6

For the new Mysql 5.7, for some reason the bin commands of Mysql aren't attached to the shell, you have to do:

1. Restart the Mac after the installation.

2. Start Mysql:

   System Preferences > Mysql > Start button

3. Go to Mysql install folder in the terminal:

   $ cd /usr/local/mysql/bin/

4. Access to Mysql:

   $ ./mysql -u root -p

and enter the initial password given to the installation.

4. In Mysql terminal change password:

   mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPassword';

Answer 7

In the terminal, write mysql -u root -pand hit Return. Enter the current mysql password that you must have noted down. And set the password SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('new_password');

Please refer to this documentation here for more details.

Answer 8

If you have forgot the MySQL root password, can’t remember or want to break in….. you can reset the mysql database password from the command line in either Linux or OS X as long as you know the root user password of the box you are on:

(1) Stop MySQL

sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop

(2) Start it in safe mode:

sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

(3) This will be an ongoing command until the process is finished so open another shell/terminal window, log in without a password:

mysql -u root

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

In the UPDATE command above just replace the 'password' with your own new password, make sure to keep the quotation marks

(4) Save and quite

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

\q

(5) Start MySQL

sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start

Answer 9

I solved this by:

1. Shutting down my MySQL server: mysql.server stop
2. Running MySQL in safe mode: mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables
3. In another terminal, login with mysql -u root
4. In the same terminal, run UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=null WHERE User='root';, then FLUSH PRIVILEGES; and then exit with exit;
5. Stop the safe mode server with mysql.server stop and then start the normal one; mysql.server start

Now you can set your new password with

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password BY 'yourpasswd';

Answer 10

When I installed OS X Yosemite,I got problem with Mysql. I tried lot of methods but none worked. I actually found a quite easy way. Try this out.

1. First log in terminal from su privileges.

sudo su

2. stop mysql

sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop

3. start in safe mode:

sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

4. open another terminal, log in as su privileges than, log in mysql without password

mysql -u root

5. change the password

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

6. flush privileges

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

7. You are done now

Answer 11

The methods mentioned in existing answers don't work for mysql 5.7.6 or later. According mysql documentation this is the recommended way.

B.5.3.2.3 Resetting the Root Password: Generic Instructions

MySQL 5.7.6 and later:

mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';

Reference: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/resetting-permissions.html

Answer 12

None of the previous comments solve the issue on my Mac. I used the commands below and it worked.

$ 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 -u root

Answer 13

If you can't remember your password, @radtek's answer worked for me except in my case I had set up MySQL using brew which meant that steps 1 and 2 of his answer had to be changed to:

1. /usr/local/bin/mysql.server stop

2. /usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

Note: the lack of sudo.

Answer 14

I think this should work :

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YOURNEWPASSWORD'

(Note that you should probably replace root with your username if it isn't root)

Answer 15

Stopping MySQL Server

sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop

Starting MySQL in safe mode

sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

Changing the root password

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u root

use mysql;
UPDATE user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE user='root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit

Testing

Run /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql -u root

Now enter the new password to start using MySQL.

Answer 16

This is what exactly worked for me:

1. Make sure no other MySQL process is running.To check this do the following:

    a.From the terminal, run this command:
          lsof -i:3306 
      If any PID is returned, kill it using kill -9 PID
    b. Go To System Preferences > MySQL > check if any MySQL instances 
       are running, stop them.
   

2. Start MySQL with the command:

   sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables
   

3. The password for every user is stored in the mysql.user table under columns User and authentication_string respectively. We can update the table as:

   UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string='your_password' where User='root'
   

Answer 17

macOS 10.14+ with 5.7.26 installed from Mac OSX DMG installer.

When attempting to use the UPDATE command posted by other users results in the following error:

ERROR 1820 (HY000): You must reset your password using ALTER USER statement before executing this statement.

Copy the password that was presented to you by the Installer open terminal and do the following:

mysql -uroot -p
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YOURPASSWORDHERE';

Answer 18

Try this in terminal : /usr/local/bin/mysql_secure_installation

Answer 19

Let us add this workaround that works on my laptop!

Mac with Osx Mojave 10.14.5

Mysql 8.0.17 was installed with homebrew

• I run the following command to locate the path of mysql

  brew info mysql

• Once the path is known, I run this :

  /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/8.0.17/bin/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-table

• In another terminal I run :

  mysql -u root

• Inside that terminal, I changed the root password using :

  update mysql.user set authentication_string='NewPassword' where user='root';

• and to finish I run :

  FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

And voila the password was reset.

References :

Answer 20

You can manually turn-off mysql on Mac, by clicking on  Apple menu and open System Preferences. Choose the “MySQL” preference panel, then click on the “Stop MySQL Server” button to stop MySQL Server on Mac.

After you stop your mysql you'll need to follow these steps.

• You'll need to start mysql in skip-grant-tables mode

$ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start --skip-grant-tables

• In your terminal itself, enter this command to FLUSH existing PRIVILEGES

/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

• Now you need to alter the user password

mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'newpassword';

mysql> exit

Then you can go to  Apple menu and open System Preferences. Choose the “MySQL” preference panel, then click on the “Stop MySQL Server” button to stop MySQL Server on Mac.

Finally you can again go to  Apple menu and open System Preferences. Choose the “MySQL” preference panel, then click on the “Start MySQL Server” button to start MySQL Server on Mac.

Hope that helps

Answer 21

If you forgot your password or want to change it to your mysql:

1. start your terminal and enter:

sudo su

2. Enter pass for you system
3. Stop your mysql:

sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop

4. Leave this window OPEN, run second terminal window and enter here:

mysql -u root

5. And change your password for mysql:

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

where "new_password" - your new pass. You don't need old pass for mysql.

6. Flush, quit and check your new pass:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

7. Close all windows and check your new pass for mysql. Good luck.

Answer 22

Much has changed for MySQL 8. I've found the following modification of the MySQL 8.0 "How to Reset the Root Password" documentation works with Mac OS X.

Create a temp file $HOME/mysql.root.txt with the SQL to update the root password:

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '<new-password>';

This uses mysql_native_password to avoid the Authentication plugin 'caching_sha2_password' cannot be loaded error, which I get if I omit the option.

Stop the server, start with an --init-file option to set the root password, then restart the server:

mysql.server stop mysql.server start --init-file=$HOME/mysql.root.txt mysql.server stop mysql.server start

Answer 23

To reference MySQL 8.0.15 + , the password() function is not available. Use the command below.

Kindly use

UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string='password' WHERE User='root';

Answer 24

mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables
mysql -u root
UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string='yourpasswd' WHERE User='root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password BY 'yourpasswd';

I somehow need to do this every time my Macbook restarts. Posting this for personal reference, hopefully it helps someone else as well.