Access denied for user 'root'@'%'

I used to access the root user in MySQL just fine. But recently, I am no longer able to.

I am able to login fine :

mysql -u root -p

Here is the mysql status after login :

mysql> status
--------------
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.28, for debian-linux-gnu (i686) using readline 6.2

Connection id:      37
Current database:   
Current user:       root@localhost
SSL:            Not in use
Current pager:      stdout
Using outfile:      ''
Using delimiter:    ;
Server version:     5.5.28-0ubuntu0.12.04.3 (Ubuntu)
Protocol version:   10
Connection:     Localhost via UNIX socket
Server characterset:    latin1
Db     characterset:    latin1
Client characterset:    utf8
Conn.  characterset:    utf8
UNIX socket:        /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
Uptime:         4 min 16 sec

Threads: 1  Questions: 112  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 191  
Flush tables: 1  Open tables:  6  Queries per second avg: 0.437
--------------

But when I want to do any action, such as :

mysql> CREATE DATABASE moyennegenerale;
ERROR 1044 (42000): Access denied for user 'root'@'%' to database 'moyennegenerale'

I understand % is used to signify any host , but my status clearly states localhost. Does somebody have an idea of what might be going on?

I think you have anonymous users

Try running this:

SELECT user,host,password FROM mysql.user WHERE user='';

This will show what anonymous users exist. Most likely, you will see a line with a blank user, host %, and a blank password as shown below:

mysql> select user,host,password from mysql.user;
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+
| user      | host        | password                                  |
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+
| lwdba     | 127.0.0.1   | *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| lwdba     | localhost   | *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| lwdba     | %           | *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| root      | localhost   | *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| root      | 127.0.0.1   | *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| vanilla   | localhost   |                                           |
| mywife    | %           |                                           |
|           | %           |                                           | <<<--- LOOK !!!
| replicant | 10.64.113.% | *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
| kumar     | %           |                                           |
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+

So, how did you login? Run this query:

SELECT USER(),CURRENT_USER();

What does this tell you?

• USER() reports how you attempted to authenticate in MySQL

• CURRENT_USER() reports how you were allowed to authenticate in MySQL

The second function CURRENT_USER() reveals how which anonymous user was used to log in.

What privileges did you have when you logged in?

Please run

SHOW GRANTS;

This will unveil what privileges you had at the time you logged in. The fact that you were blocked from creating a database shows you were not root but some lower-privileged user.

Please clean up your user grants.

• Feb 17, 2012 : MySQL : Why are there "test" entries in mysql.db?

• Feb 17, 2012 : What is the mysql.db table used for?

• Jan 18, 2012 : MySQL error: Access denied for user 'a'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

As for resetting the root password, please do the following:

echo "SET PASSWORD FOR root@localhost=PASSWORD('password');" > /var/lib/mysql/rootpwd.sql
service mysql restart
rm -f /var/lib/mysql/rootpwd.sql

I learned this efficient method from @ShlomiNoach.

Give it a Try !!!

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#30768, answer score: 21