linux-user-password

## Overview

Some tips on using passwords with MySQL on Linux and Windows.

Changing Passwords

To change the root password, I usually use the mysqladmin program. This program should be generally available from any command prompt in Linux. In windows, you can usually find it someplace near here:

[C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1\bin](file:///C:/Program%20Files/MySQL/MySQL%20Server%205.1/bin)>

To change the password, enter the following command to change the current password to the string ‘bar’:

mysqladmin.exe -u root -p password bar

After issuing the command you will be prompted for the current password.

To change the user password, try something like this:

mysql> use mydatabase;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed
mysql> SET PASSWORD for 'charlie'@'%'=PASSWORD('bar');
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SET PASSWORD for 'charlie'@'localhost'=PASSWORD('bar');
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> flush privileges;</pre>

MySQL User Names and Passwords on Linux

Here is how to set the password for root:

mysqladmin -u root password new_password

Then sign on to the mysql monitor by typing the following:

mysql mysql --user=root --password=mypassword

Add at least one user, granting them super user privilege:

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON . TO ccalvert@localhost

To see if things are working, type the following at the command prompt:

    mysqlshow -p

The -p at the end of the command asks the system to prompt you for a password. What you will get back is a list of available databases on the system. A virgin system would show test and mysql as existing databases. More details about this process are explained in the help for MySQL in section 4.3.4 Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges.