When you have forgotten you MySQL root password, with root access it is easy enough to get back into the database and reset the password.

Firstly, bring down your MySQL database. This can be as simple as running:

/etc/init.d/mysqld stop

Then once you have confirmed your MySQL instance is no longer running:

ps -ef | grep -i mysql

You are free to restart the MySQL instance again without using the user tables:

mysqld_safe –skip-grant-tables &

Confirm that the MySQL instance is running again, and it is likely that you will have received a warning had it have not started properly anyway:

ps -ef | grep -i mysql

Then you are free to login to MySQL again:

mysql -uroot

Then once you are successfully back in the database, you can choose whether or not you want to reset the password again:

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD(‘some_password_here’) WHERE User=’root’;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;