Forgotten MySQL Root Password

It happens to the best of us all the time. (Three times in a 24-hour period is my record…) On my Ubuntu VPSs, this is what I do when that happens:

$-> /etc/init.d/mysql stop
$-> mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
$-> mysql -u root

Use the ‘msyql’ database to issue this query:
UPDATE user set password=PASSWORD("ice_cream") where User='root';
Flush privs and then stop and start MySQL (normally).