Reset MySQL root password

You can’t view the hashed password; the only thing you can do is reset it!

Stop MySQL:

sudo service mysql stop

or

$ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server stop

Start it in safe mode:

$ sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

(above line is the whole command)

This will be an ongoing command until the process is finished so open another shell/terminal window, log in without a password:

$ mysql -u root

mysql> UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('password') WHERE User='root';

MySQL 5.7 and over:

mysql> use mysql; 
mysql> update user set authentication_string=password('password') where user='root';

Start MySQL:

sudo mysql start

or

sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start

Your new password is ‘password’.