Ubuntu – Cannot enter phptheadmin as root (MySQL 5.7)

MySQLphpmyadmin

I'm using Ubuntu desktop 16.04 (upgraded from 15.10).

I had installed phpmyadmin from by apt-get install phpmyadmin. It works if I go to localhost/phpmyadmin but I cannot log into it as root.

I have searched a lot for it. I have found many sources in which they suggest to alter /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php and replace the user and password with 'root' and '' (empty for password). But my config.inc.php is different from theirs. For example in my file, there is no line for user and password and it seems it gets it automatically from another file which is /etc/phpmyadmin/config-db.php. Despite this, I have changed the user and password in that file, but now I get this error:

#1698 - Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'

What I should do?

Phpmyadmin Version: 4.5.4.1deb2ubuntu1
mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.12, for Linux (x86_64) using EditLine wrapper

Best Answer

MySQL 5.7 changed the secure model: now MySQL root login requires a sudo.

I.e., phpMyAdmin will be not able to use root credentials.

The simplest, safest and permanent solution will be create a new user and grant required privileges.

1. Connect to mysql

sudo mysql --user=root mysql

2. Create a real password

In the below steps I'll use <please_replace_this> as a sample password. PLEASE, REPLACE IT BY YOUR PASSWORD! DON'T USE <please_replace_this> AS PASSWORD!

3. Create a user for phpMyAdmin

Run the following commands (replacing <please_replace_this> by the desired password):

CREATE USER 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '<please_replace_this>';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

If your phpMyAdmin is connecting to localhost, this should be enough.

4. Optional and unsafe: allow remote connections

Remember: allow a remote user to have all privileges is a security concern and this is not required in most of cases.

With this in mind, if you want this user to have the same privileges during remote connections, additionally run (replacing <please_replace_this> by the password used in Step #2):

CREATE USER 'phpmyadmin'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<please_replace_this>';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'phpmyadmin'@'%' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

5. Update phpMyAdmin

Using sudo, edit /etc/dbconfig-common/phpmyadmin.conf file updating user/password values in the following sections (replacing <please_replace_this> by the password used in Step #2):

# dbc_dbuser: database user
#       the name of the user who we will use to connect to the database.
dbc_dbuser='phpmyadmin'

# dbc_dbpass: database user password
#       the password to use with the above username when connecting
#       to a database, if one is required
dbc_dbpass='<please_replace_this>'
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