Setup: MYSQL server running on Linux

Problem: root account password is lost. You need a method to reset the password and login.

Solution:

Stop MySQL
On Debian or Ubuntu

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop 
or 
$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop -- if you are not root

or on CentOS, Fedora, and RHEL:

# /etc/init.d/mysqld stop 
or
$ sudo /etc/init.d/mysqld stop  -- if you are not root

Next we need to start MySQL in safe mode.

# sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
# mysql -u root

You should be loged in as root now, as we skipped the user privileges table.
Run these commands in mysql client:

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

Stop and start MYSQL

# /etc/init.d/mysql stop or $ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
# /etc/init.d/mysql start or $ sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start

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