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WordPress installation - Error establishing a database connection

By Nick | March 19, 2007

First post and first complaint. For all of you wondering why I am using a php blog, I would like to say that I looked first at Mephisto. But unfortunately I didn’t manage to get it running :( So I thought I’ll try the market leader WordPress, that should be fairly easy to install. And yes, they have a five minute installation guide. Five more minutes and I’ll be blogging …

Not exactly! I got the error: Error establishing a database connection, even though I had everything configured fine in wp-config.php So after a lot of searching on the WordPress forum (a lot of people already had encountered this error!) I found the solution.

I added the following line to wp-db.php (in the wp-includes folder)

function wpdb($dbuser, $dbpassword, $dbname, $dbhost)
{
$this->dbh = @mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpassword, true);

//Add this line:
echo (mysql_error());

This returned the error “Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client”

Since I’m already running MySQL 5 I didn’t see any point of upgrading it. So I continued my quest for a solution. And there it was …

WordPress apparently isn’t to keen on the new password structure of MySQL 5, so I had to run the following query to give my WordPress user an “old” password.

SET PASSWORD FOR some_user@some_host = OLD_PASSWORD('your_old password_here');

And as you may have noticed I have managed to get it running!! So stay tuned for some Rails gossip :D

Topics: Uncategorized |

16 Responses to “WordPress installation - Error establishing a database connection”

  1. roger Says:
    April 17th, 2007 at 10:58 am

    But Where I’ve to put the line : SET PASSWORD …….

  2. Nick Says:
    April 17th, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    @Roger. You should put the SET PASSWORD line in your MySQL console, either with the command line or with programs like SQLYog, MySQLFront, …. SET PASSWORD … is just a SQL command.

  3. Homerboy Says:
    May 3rd, 2007 at 8:23 pm

    I’ve been having the same issue as you had (with no help from Wordpress support).

    Tried your method and still no go.

    “SET PASSWORD FOR blog = OLD_PASSWORD(’blog485′);”

  4. Tim Harding Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 10:13 pm

    Very helpful, thank you. It is quite easy to fix a problem once you know what has actually failed. If I get my arse into gear I’ll submit a patch to WordPress that displays the underlying error along with the unhelpful error message.

  5. Jon Says:
    January 24th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    GENIUS! - Thank you. You just ended a 2 day, painful experience.

  6. Walter Hilmers Jr Says:
    February 13th, 2008 at 8:49 am

    tried your solution and by damn, it worked!!!!, thanks! thanks! thanks!

    wow, what a time and sweat saver you have been :-}
    it is really appreciated!!!!!!!

  7. DailyTrees Says:
    March 6th, 2008 at 11:27 pm

    Ok, I’m a newb, and I’m just learning how to deal with MySQL. I’m in the MySQLAdmin / phpMyAdmin page. And I don’t know where this MySQL Console is. I don’t know exactly where to write this piece of code. If you guys can help, I appreciate it greatly! Thanks.

  8. Stefan Richter Says:
    March 13th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

    Halle-frikin-lujah. I knew something wasn’t right with my connection either - whatever I tried I could not get any PHP page from my website (a Win server) to connect to MySQL. the exact same script ran fine under OSX on localhost… I finally tried a user without password and bingo - it works. But no password = no security. I tried your SET PASSWORD query and now my installation is secure again.

    Thanks for posting this.

  9. Stefan Richter Says:
    March 13th, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    btw I am NOT running MySQL 5 - but some 4.something version…

  10. Ginger Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 10:02 pm

    Where do I put this code in? IN the wp-config.php file? or where?????

  11. Ginger Says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 10:15 pm

    I did it! I did it!

    Thank you so so so so so so so much!!!!!!!!

  12. creatingwealth Says:
    August 30th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

    I don’t see the code,
    function wpdb($dbuser, $dbpassword, $dbname, $dbhost)
    {
    $this->dbh = @mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpassword, true);
    that I can add,
    //Add this line:
    echo (mysql_error()),
    this to.

  13. Dude it worked! Says:
    November 10th, 2008 at 12:13 am

    Thanks man your my hero!

  14. Lazer Says:
    November 13th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    Ahhhh my life was feeling consumed by this error…THANK YOU! O THANK YOU!

  15. brad Says:
    November 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am

    thanks!! saved my no doubt another day of searching in the dark for the solution.

  16. spiderwick Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Error establishing a database connection is resolved by changing localhost with hosting server database address in ixwebhosting