Ubuntu – How to activate MySQL Database Server

Check what packages of myslq are/is still installed:

sudo dpkg -l | grep mysql*

To completely remove remaining mysql packages do:

sudo dpkg -P mysql*

OP's answer:

I solved this problem with the following :

cd /usr/share/doc/phpmyadmin/examples
sudo gunzip create_tables.sql.gz 
mysql -u root -p < create_tables.sql
mysql -u root -p -e 'GRANT SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE ON phpmyadmin.* TO 'pma'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY "pmapassword"'

Then edited /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php on these lines :

/* Optional: User for advanced features */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = 'pmapassword';

Logged back in phpmyadmin, and then, the warning message had disappeared.

Also note that you may have a new warning about phpmyadmin storage not completely configured. This can be caused because you need to tell phpmyadmin the name of the tables to use their features. That can be done editing /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php on this lines:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma__bookmark';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma__relation';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma__table_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma__table_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma__pdf_pages';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma__column_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma__history';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] = 'pma__table_uiprefs';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma__tracking';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = 'pma__designer_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig'] = 'pma__userconfig';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['recent'] = 'pma__recent';

Note the double underscore __.