PaVen Nguyen: Easy steps to reset mySQL root password:

First please try using

mysql -u root -p

and enter your password (if you remember) at the prompt to login as the sql-root user (note the switch -p is for password).

If you really have to reset your root password for mysql, here's an easy way - reconfigure the package withdpkg-reconfigure.

Check the version of your mysql-server;
```
apt-cache policy mysql-server
```
and see for the line which shows the installed version among other information. e.g. for my install it's:
```
   Installed: 5.5.37-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
```
(From this I know that I have mysql-server-5.5 installed in my system.)
Start the reconfiguration with:
```
sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-*.*
```
where mysql-server-*.* should be replaced by the version that you have. (for me it'd be mysql-server-5.5). This will stop the database daemon. A prompt will then appear where you'd have to enter your new password and confirm the reconfiguration.

The daemon will be automatically started after the reconfig completes.
You can then log in with:
```
mysql -u root -p
```
and start your database admin tasks.

References:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MysqlPasswordReset [Which would soon be cleaned up as indicated in the page.]
Ubuntu Server Guide related to your specific version, available at: https://help.ubuntu.com/. Select your Ubuntu version and click on Ubuntu Server Guide and look for the database help page.

PaVen Nguyen