The following steps describe the procedure to reset the MySQL root password on Linux.
1) Stop the mysql server
/etc/init.d/mysql stop
2) Start the MySQL server manually without permission tables which allows us to login as root user without password:
mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
3) Login into MySQL as root user without a password and switch to the “mysql” database:
mysql -u root mysql
Then execute this SQL query to set a new password for the MySQL root user:
update user set Password=PASSWORD('mynewpassword') WHERE User='root';
(Replace “mynewpassword” with the new root password in the above command).
Then logout from the MySQL prompt by typing:
exit
4) Now bring back the running mysql instance into the foreground by typing:
fg
and then press [ctrl] + c to kill the mysql process.
5) Start the mysql server again:
/etc/init.d/mysql start