Start mysqld with -Sg as a parameter you'll have full access to all DBs, including the users DB. NOTE THAT IN THAT TIME, EVERYBODY ELSE THAT CAN CONNECT TO MYSQL WILL HAVE FULL PERMISSIONS AS WELL!!! then just connect with mysqladmin and change the root password. then you: kill mysqld run mysqld again without the -Sg parm... and you should be fine in my opinion. - shimi.