How to Reset Root Password in MySQL 8.0

If you forget the MySQL root password on MySQL 8.0 server, you can follow the instruction here to reset the root user password.

First, stop the MySQL server if it is already running

systemctl stop mysql

Create folder

mkdir /var/run/mysqld/
chown mysql:mysql /var/run/mysqld/

Now start MySQL with –skip-grant-tables option

mysqld --skip-grant-tables --user=mysql

Take a new terminal, connect to MySQL

mysql -u root -p

When it asks for the root password, just press enter. No need to enter any password. To reset MySQL root password, run

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MySQL_NEW_ROOT_PW_HERE';

After running the above 2 SQL commands, exit MySQL command prompt with command exit or press CTRL+D.

Now you need to find the process ID of MySQL

ps aux | grep mysql

Kill the process with

kill -9 PROCESS_ID_OF_MYSQLD

Now start MySQL normally with

systemctl start mysql

Now you will be able to login to the MySQL server using the new PASSWORD

mysql -u root -p