MySQL ERROR 1698 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (Solution)

John on October 06, 2021

To fix the the error "ERROR 1698 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'", change the root MySQL user authentication method from auth_socket to mysql_native_password.

Let's go through the steps of how to do this on a server.

Step 1

Login to the mysql server in sudo mode as the root user and supply any required passwords.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Step 2

Within the mysql console run the following commands to set the root MySQL user to use mysql_native_password:

USE mysql;

UPDATE user SET plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

exit;

Step 3

Restart the mysql server to ensure the new changes are applied:

sudo service mysql restart

Conclusion

You can now login to MySQl as root user without having to use sudo mode like this:

mysql -u root -p

This also means you should have no issues connecting to mysql remotely using a database client with a regular user over SSH.