Losing access to your Percona MySQL root account can be stressful, especially in production environments where uptime and data access are critical. Fortunately, recovering the root password is a safe and straightforward process, as long as you still have root or sudo-level access to the server itself. This guide will walk you through the complete steps to reset your Percona root password securely — without risking data loss or extended downtime. Whether you’ve forgotten the credentials, inherited a system with unknown access, or are troubleshooting a user authentication issue, this method will help you regain full control over your database.
Table of Contents
Recover Percona MySQL Root Password
🛠 Step 1: Stop the MySQL Service
Stop the MySQL service to start it manually without password authentication.
sudo systemctl stop mysql🔧 Step 2: Start MySQL in Safe Mode
Start MySQL without privilege checking (no password required).
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &--skip-grant-tables: disables password checking
--skip-networking: prevents external connections during reset
Wait a few seconds until it’s running.
🔑 Step 3: Log into MySQL Without Password
mysql -u root🧩 Step 4: Update the Root Password
Once inside the MySQL shell, run:
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'NewSecurePassword123!';Or (for MySQL versions < 5.7 or if ALTER fails):
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('NewSecurePassword123!');🔁 Step 5: Exit and Restart MySQL Normally
exit
sudo systemctl stop mysql
sudo systemctl start mysql✅ Step 6: Test the New Password
mysql -u root -pEnter the new password when prompted.