Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

I tried restarting the Mysql server but its not working for me. I am sure the server is running and the permissions on the folder /var/lib/mysql/ are correct (777).

When i tried to open the file mysql.sock, its giving me an error saying the file may be corrupt.

Please help me to log on to the mysql server.

First: Make sure that the owner of /var/lib/mysql and its files and subdirectories is mysql user of mysql group

to do that run the following command:

chown mysql:mysql -R /var/lib/mysql/*

Second: change write permissions to rwxr-xr-x (755) for mysql directory, and all its files and subdirectories, by running the following command:

chmod 755 -R /var/lib/mysql/*

now start mysql service

service mysql start

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#11027, answer score: 4