Error connecting to MySQL: Access denied for user: 'da_admin@localhost' (Using password: YES)

When connecting to the MySQL screens in DirectAdmin, if this error appears, that would indicated that the "da_admin" user has not been setup correctly. Â To resolve this do the following.

1) Make sure the root mysql password works. Â If you know it, skip to 2). The mysql root password can be found in the /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/setup.txt if it has not been deleted. Â It's under the header "mysql=". Â If it cannot be found, then mysqld will have to be restarted with the --skip-grant-tables option:

service mysqld stop Â Â Â Â (Redhat)
mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

That should start up mysql without the need for a root password. Â Once in, type

use mysql
UPDATE mysql.user SET password=PASSWORD('newpass') WHERE user='root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit

That will reset the root password for you.

Type "killall -9 mysqld_safe; killall -9 mysqld" to shut down mysqld.
Start it up again with

/sbin/service mysqld start

2) Once the root mysql password is set and known, then you can begin the process of resetting the da_admin mysql user. Â Type:

mysql -uroot -p

Then press enter. Â You'll be asked for the password. Â Once in mysql, type:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO da_admin@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'newdapass' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit

That should set the password for da_admin in mysql.

3) Now we need to make sure it's setup correctly for DA to use. Â Edit /usr/local/directadmin/conf/mysql.conf and set

user=da_admin
passwd=newdapass

4) Test it out in DirectAdmin.

Some system have a /root/.my.cnf file with a preset password. Â This will override the value set in DA. Â If you're getting a similar error during backups or restores, try deleting or renaming your /root/.my.cnf so that it doesn't conflict.