MySQL, can't remember password

Caryatnid · 20-08-2009 4:53pm #1

Hi, I've been spending a few hours trying to figure this one out and I'm loath to uninstall everything and reinstall.

So I haven't logged into MySQL in a few months and now when I want to log in again, it isn't working. I get a message saying

mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)'

So I have tried to follow the instructions at http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/04/23/reset-the-root-password-of-mysql-server/ and http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/resetting-permissions.html#resetting-permissions-windows (which are almost the same), and it's not working.

When I do;

C:\> C:\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt &#8211;init-file=C:\mysql-init.txt

I get the error message;

'c:\xampp\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt' is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

So then I guess it is because I must've installed MySQL with the MySQL Installation Wizard, so I need to do;

C:\> &#8220;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\bin\mysqld-nt.exe&#8221;
&#8211;defaults-file=&#8221;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\my.ini&#8221;
&#8211;init-file=C:\mysql-init.txt

but I get the same message.

Has anyone experienced this before?
I have read that there something like 'skip grant tables' but I can't figure out exactly how to do that. I'm not an expert using the cmd prompt window.

Thanks in advance.

techguy · 20-08-2009 9:00pm

How complex (strong) do you think your password is likely to be?

Like do you usually use just alphabet characters and a few numbers or is there some other exotic stuff in it too?

You could try brute forcing it or using a dictionary attack.

feylya · 20-08-2009 9:03pm

Do a search for the mysqld-nt file on your hard drive. That'll start you off on the right direction

Caryatnid · 20-08-2009 9:16pm

techguy wrote: »

How complex (strong) do you think your password is likely to be?

Like do you usually use just alphabet characters and a few numbers or is there some other exotic stuff in it too?

You could try brute forcing it or using a dictionary attack.

The thing is . . . I actually have it written down and am sure I have the right one . . . but I guess I must be wrong or it would be working . . . . but I don't ever remember changing it as I had no reason to.

Caryatnid · 20-08-2009 10:04pm

feylya wrote: »

Do a search for the mysqld-nt file on your hard drive. That'll start you off on the right direction

Sorry I don't really know what you mean by that. I can obviously find that file, are you suggesting I should reinstall MySQL again? I don't want to do that, it took me ages to set up. My issue is that when I put in the password I get the error message:

mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)'

MySQL is running, it ran fine before. It seems my issue is that I need to reset the password and I just can't figure out how to do that.

feylya · 20-08-2009 10:07pm

No, I mean that the commands you're running to reset the password aren't working because they can't find the MySQL binary. You need to adjust the path to point to the correct binary.

MySQL, can't remember password

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