Linux – Debian thesql-server is not asking for a root password before installation

Mysql maintains it's own user and password information which are different from the main operating system accounts. The root@localhost and root@yourhost.tld accounts are the default administrator accounts for an installation on CentOS.

If you have recently installed this mysql server and you have not set a password then you should be able to access it with a blank password

mysql -u root -p
Enter password: (press enter)

or

mysql -h yourhostname.tld -u root -p
Enter password: (press enter)

If you can do this then you should secure your system by setting a password

/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h yourhostname.tld password 'new-password'

or run

/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

Which will give you various options for securing your system. Pay particular attention to the

Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]

Question

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'. This ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.

But you appear from your question to want to allow this (although you probably don't really).

If someone else has set this system up for you and they have set a password you should ask them for it.

If a password has been set and you cannot obtain it then you can reset the password with the following procedure providing you have root access to the OS.

service mysqld stop
mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
mysql --user=root mysql
update user set Password=PASSWORD('new-password') where user='root';
flush privileges;
exit;

Now stop mysql

pkill mysql

and restart the service

service mysql start

You should be able log on with your know password.

You can start MySQL with the authentication disabled. From there you can create/delete the administrative account for MySQL.

The details you can find in the MySQL documentation: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/resetting-permissions.html

1. Shutdown MySQL

2. Start MySQL with: mysqld --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking

3. In mysql run:

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

   For newer MySQL versions:

   ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'MyNewPass';
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON \*.\* TO 'root'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
   

4. Shutdown MySQL

5. Start MySQL as you usually do.