Setting root password for Mysql server on Linux

In some Linux installations, installing mysql-server does not prompt for a root password for mysql, thus creating the problem where you either run mysql under sudo or use it without a password. Unfortunately using

sudo mysqladmin -u root password "mypassword"

also does not change the root password , mainly because the root user uses auth_sock for authenticating , which does not use the new password settings. The solution is log in to mysql with sudo and run an ALTER USER command:

sudo mysql
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'mypassword';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES

 

Quit Mysql and try logging in with: mysql –user=root –password=newpassword. It should work now.