How to reset mysql root password

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C.5.4.1.1. Resetting the Root Password: Windows Systems
On Windows, use the following procedure to reset the password for all MySQL root accounts:

1. Log on to your system as Administrator.
2. Stop the MySQL server if it is running. For a server that is running as a Windows service, go to the Services manager: From the Start menu, select Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, then Services. Find the MySQL service in the list and stop it.
   If your server is not running as a service, you may need to use the Task Manager to force it to stop.
3. Create a text file containing the following statements. Replace the password with the password that you want to use.
   

   UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('MyNewPass') WHERE User='root';
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   

   Write the UPDATE and FLUSH statements each on a single line. The UPDATE statement resets the password for all root accounts, and the FLUSH statement tells the server to reload the grant tables into memory so that it notices the password change.
4. Save the file. For this example, the file will be named C:\mysql-init.txt.
5. Open a console window to get to the command prompt: From the Start menu, select Run, then enter cmd as the command to be run.
6. Start the MySQL server with the special --init-file option (notice that the backslash in the option value is doubled):
   

   C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt --init-file=C:\\mysql-init.txt
   

   If you installed MySQL to a location other than C:\mysql, adjust the command accordingly.
   The server executes the contents of the file named by the --init-file option at startup, changing each root account password.
   You can also add the --console option to the command if you want server output to appear in the console window rather than in a log file.
   If you installed MySQL using the MySQL Installation Wizard, you may need to specify a --defaults-file option:
   

   C:\> "C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\bin\mysqld-nt.exe"
            --defaults-file="C:\\Program Files\\MySQL\\MySQL Server 5.0\\my.ini"
            --init-file=C:\\mysql-init.txt
   

   The appropriate --defaults-file setting can be found using the Services Manager: From the Start menu, select Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, then Services. Find the MySQL service in the list, right-click it, and choose the Properties option. The Path to executable field contains the --defaults-file setting.
7. After the server has started successfully, delete C:\mysql-init.txt.

You should now be able to connect to the MySQL server as root using the new password. Stop the MySQL server, then restart it in normal mode again. If you run the server as a service, start it from the Windows Services window. If you start the server manually, use whatever command you normally use.

C.5.4.1.2. Resetting the Root Password: Unix Systems

On Unix, use the following procedure to reset the password for all MySQL root accounts. The instructions assume that you will start the server so that it runs using the Unix login account that you normally use for running the server. For example, if you run the server using the mysql login account, you should log in as mysql before using the instructions. Alternatively, you can log in as root, but in this case you must start mysqld with the --user=mysql option. If you start the server as root without using --user=mysql, the server may create root-owned files in the data directory, such as log files, and these may cause permission-related problems for future server startups. If that happens, you will need to either change the ownership of the files to mysql or remove them.

1. Log on to your system as the Unix user that the mysqld server runs as (for example, mysql).
2. Locate the .pid file that contains the server's process ID. The exact location and name of this file depend on your distribution, host name, and configuration. Common locations are /var/lib/mysql/, /var/run/mysqld/, and /usr/local/mysql/data/. Generally, the file name has an extension of .pid and begins with either mysqld or your system's host name.
   You can stop the MySQL server by sending a normal kill (not kill -9) to the mysqld process, using the path name of the .pid file in the following command:
   

   shell> kill `cat /mysql-data-directory/host_name.pid`
   

   Use backticks (not forward quotation marks) with the cat command. These cause the output of cat to be substituted into the kill command.
3. Create a text file containing the following statements. Replace the password with the password that you want to use.
   

   UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('MyNewPass') WHERE User='root';
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   

   Write the UPDATE and FLUSH statements each on a single line. The UPDATE statement resets the password for all root accounts, and the FLUSH statement tells the server to reload the grant tables into memory so that it notices the password change.
4. Save the file. For this example, the file will be named /home/me/mysql-init. The file contains the password, so it should not be saved where it can be read by other users. If you are not logged in as mysql (the user the server runs as), make sure that the file has permissions that permit mysql to read it.
5. Start the MySQL server with the special --init-file option:
   

   shell> mysqld_safe --init-file=/home/me/mysql-init &
   

   The server executes the contents of the file named by the --init-file option at startup, changing each root account password.
6. After the server has started successfully, delete /home/me/mysql-init.

You should now be able to connect to the MySQL server as root using the new password. Stop the server and restart it normally.

Linux 2

Step 1: Stop MySQL daemon if it is currently running
Depending on the operating system MySQL is installed on, the daemon can be checked/stopped differently. Here is an example on how to do it in Unix-like systems.

[ NOTE ]: You might need to run it as a Unix System superuser (root) - depending on how the system is configured, and what permissions your Unix account is granted)

Here is how to stop/kill the existing mysql daemon, in case it is running:

ps -ef | grep mysql - checks if mysql/mysqld is one of the running processes.   pkill mysqld - kills the daemon, if it is running.

Note: if pkill (’process kill’) is not on a particular Unix system, use kill -9 ‘pid’, where ‘pid’ corresponds to processes that were found with ps -ef | grep mysql
Step 2: Run MySQL safe daemon with skipping grant tables

mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

Step 3: Login to MySQL as root with no password

mysql -u root mysql

Step 4: Run UPDATE query to reset the root password
In MySQL command line prompt issue the following two commands:

UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD("ualue=42") WHERE user="root"; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

“ualue=42” is a common password for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” people which reads “Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything=42“
Step 5: Stop MySQL safe daemon
Follow the first two steps, but this time kill (pkill) “mysqld_safe” instead of “mysqld”
Step 6: Start MySQL daemon
Depending on the operating system (Unix-like examples):

/etc/rc.d/rc.mysql start

OR

/etc/init.d/mysql start

OR

/etc/rc.5/mysql start

etc.. check existing MySQL configuration
Step 7: Root password is reset and ready to use
Password is reset. Privileges are flushed. Start MySQL and login as root with the password set in step 4:

mysql -u root -p mysql

Note: sometimes (most of the time) ‘root user’ privileges are required for the system (OS) in order to stop/start processes