Same root password setting problem here, mine possibly caused by an unsuccessful manual installation of mysql server 5.6 previously. A thorough mysql uninstallation is no easy task. I purged/reinstalled for hours then finally solved it with
sudo dpkg --purge mysql-client-core-5.5 # or alternative version
sudo dpkg --purge mysql-client
sudo dpkg --purge mysql-server-core-5.5 # or alternative version
sudo dpkg --purge mysql-common
Basically I just type
sudo dpkg --purge mysql # followed by two tabs
Then --purge
any packages the terminal auto-completes. Purge mysql-common
at last because of some dependency problems.
Use above dpkg
commands in addition to
sudo apt-get --purge remove mysql-server
sudo apt-get --purge remove mysql-client
sudo apt-get --purge remove mysql-common
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
Also I tried Greq's method
sudo rm -rf /etc/mysql
Remove the mysql folder from /var/lib
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql/
At this point, to make sure mysql is fully removed, check with
which mysql
mysql --version
The first one should return no output instead of a folder. The second should return mysql is not installed instead of a version number. Otherwise the removal is still incomplete.
The significance of dpkg --purge
is, when using apt-get
alone, which mysql
and mysql --version
behave like mysql is still there.
Before reinstallation, reconfigure dpkg and update
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get update
Problem resolved finally. Hope it will be helpful for other people.
Best Answer
Early versions allowed blank root password. Newer versions set root password to the main user login password during the install.