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This article contains information about mysql safe mode such as start mysql in safe mode, find mysqld_safe location, changing password.
MySQL Safe Mode
Sometime you want to connect to your DB server without password because:
- You forgot your password
- The server is not responding properly
- You get Access denied for user ‘xx’@’xxx’ (using password: YES)
- The mysql.user table is corrupt
- Take the database offline for all client
- Many more …
In this article let assume we forgot our userID password and would like to reset it.
Stop MySQL
1 | sudo service mysql stop |
Find mysqld_safe location
To find the mysqld_safe location run the below command.
1 | which mysqld_safe |
Start MySQL in Safe Mode
To start mysql in safe mode run the below command.
1 | sudo [/location_of_mysqld_safe]/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables--skip-networking |
–skip-grant-tables: This option causes the server to start without using the privilege system at all, which gives anyone with access to the server unrestricted access to all databases
–skip-networking : This option will block TCP/IP Connection to MySQL except local connection.
This will be an ongoing command until the process is finished so open another shell/terminal window, log in without a password:
1 | mysql -u root -p |
You don’t have to provide a password here, nice isn’t it!!
1 | update mysql.user set authentication_string=password('myPassword') where user='xxx' and host='xxx'; |
(replace xxx with your own userID and password)
1 2 3 | flush privileges; quit; |
Start MySQL server
1 | sudo service mysql start |
Now you should be able to connect to root with your new password :
1 | mysql -u root -p |
Give it a try in your development environment at first. Do not forget trying everything on development first.
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