I've just installed xampp, and am using command line to write mySQL.
I am using 'root' with no password and can connect to mysql but cannot CREATE DATABASE as I get the error 1044 access denied for user '' @ 'localhost'. I am logged in as -uroot.
I have privileges in phpMyadmin to do what I want, but, in command line I seem to have no write privileges. I've looked at all the other related posts on this topic but to no avail. I cannot GRANT privileges as I have none anyway.
After stopping the database server, the next step is to gain access to the server through a backdoor by starting the database server and skipping networking and permission tables. This can be done by running the commands below.
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &
Now that the database server is started in safe mode, run the commands below to logon as root without password prompt. To do that, run the commands below
sudo mysql -u root
Then run the commands below to use the mysql database.
use mysql;
Finally, run the commands below to reset the root password.
update user set password=PASSWORD("new_password_here") where User='root';
Replace new_password _here with the new password you want to create for the root account, then press Enter.
After that, run the commands below to update the permissions and save your changes to disk.
flush privileges;
Exit (CTRL + D) and you’re done.
Next start MariaDB normally and test the new password you just created.
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
Logon to the database by running the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
source: https://websiteforstudents.com/reset-mariadb-root-password-ubuntu-17-04-17-10/
I had the same issue, and it turned out to be that MariaDB was set to allow only root to log in locally via the unix_socket plug-in, so clearing that setting allowed successfully logging in with the user specified on the command line, provided a correct password is entered, of course. See this answer on Ask Ubuntu