MYSQL - Lost Password - Windows HOW TO
posted 23 January 2008, Wednesday
Interestingly enough I was asked to assist a team with retrieving a password for a MySQL database on a Windows platform. Well, retrieving the password was not the fix, resetting it is what was accompished and in 3 minutes flat!! 
Of course, this was not so hard and one can go to the SOS Entry MYSQL LOST PASSWORD and figure it out by interpolation. However, for Windows users the process is a little simpler and after all, Windows should have it's own HOW TO.
- First off, go into services and stop the MYSQL service.
- Next go to your Mysql installation such as C:\Mysql\bin
- Execute: C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt.exe --skip-grant-tables
- Execute: C:\mysql\bin\mysql -h localhost
mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('your e_new_password') where USER='root';mysql> quit
That's it, access granted in 3 minutes flat. It's a little simplier in Windows and does not require the Linux parameters as seen in the previous article.
As usual PLEASE back up databse files before excuting these instructions.