You may get this error when you try to access MySQL server on Windows.

Solution:

1. Stop MySQL service (from services.msc)

2. Create a text file in C:\ called “init.txt”. Paste the following code and save it.

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mysql.* TO root@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'YourPassword!' WITH GRANT OPTION;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mysql.* TO root@127.0.0.1 IDENTIFIED BY 'YourPassword!' WITH GRANT OPTION;

3. Open command prompt (cmd)

4. Go to MySQL bin directory on cmd.

Example: C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1\bin

5. Start MySQL service on cmd.

mysqld --init-file=C:\\init.txt

6. Close cmd and kill “mysqld.exe” from task manager.

7. Start MySQL service.

Now you should be able to connect MySQL via root user.