“Password is Forbidden” PhpMyAdmin Login Error Solved

Posted on by Justin Palmer | Updated:
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Once in a while, perhaps on a Development server, MySQL will not be set up with a root password. The aforementioned configuration is generally thought of as against best practices, however, if it is what you're dealing with, then it could also interfere with PhpMyAdmin.

This error relates to logging into phpMyAdmin, an open source tool used for the administration of MySQL.

Preflight Check

  • These instructions are intended specifically for solving the error: Login without a password is forbidden by configuration (see AllowNoPassword).
  • I’ll be working from a Liquid Web Self Managed Ubuntu 15.04 server, and I'll be logged in as root.

The Error

The error will read "Login without a password is forbidden by configuration (see AllowNoPassword)" as shown below.

Error Login without a password is forbidden by configuration (see AllowNoPassword) [SOLVED]

The Solution

Enabling the ability to manage MySQL via PhpMyAdmin (when the root login has no password) is as easy as changing two lines in the configuration file.

We will set the AllowNoPassword variable, located in PhpMyAdmin's configuration file, to TRUE. On an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server, edit the following file.

vim /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

For a refresher on editing files with vim see: New User Tutorial: Overview of the Vim Text Editor

Next, type in a forward slash "/" to begin a search of the file. Type in "Allow" which will show the following line.

    // $cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = TRUE;

Now, uncomment that line. To accomplish this, simply remove the two forward slashes "//" at the beginning of the line. It should be noted that there are two instances of this line in the configuration file.
Be SURE to uncomment both!

Then, exit and save the file using the following command,

:wq

Conclusion

Once you have made this change, and later re-added a password to PhpMyAdmin, you can always go back in and re-comment these lines to disable this setting. Because of the way Linux addresses most all files as "flat files", configuration settings like these can be easily modified to behave in the way you want!

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About the Author: Justin Palmer

Justin Palmer is a professional application developer with Liquid Web

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