reset mysql root password

If you have forgotten the root mysql password and you do not have an alternate user with equivalent permissions you can easily define a new root password following the below steps.

Note: Obviously mysql connections will be interrupted during this processes as we will be restarting the service and not listening on the network for a bit.

• /etc/init.d/mysqld stop
• mysqld_safe --skip-networking --skip-grant-tables
• mysql -u root
• mysql> use mysql;
• mysql> update user set Password=PASSWORD('testpassword') where User='root';
• mysql> quit
• /etc/init.d/mysqld restart