I installed XAMPP for Windows (with installer) and all was well. I went into phpMyAdmin and saw the sample databases. At that point, I had NOT created a password for MySQL root user.
I then tried to import a database which I had created on another computer. This database DID have a password for the root user, but at the time, I did not think this mattered once I had exported the data from the old database.
The import did not complete successfully, but I can't really remember what it said at the time. Sorry. After this, I could not get back into phpMyAdmin. The message said that the MySQL server rejected the connection. It suggested that I check host, username and password. Using the XAMPP security module, I discovered that the MySQL server now thinks that there is a password for the root user. I suspect that this somehow happened when I tried to import the other database.
I tried changing the password as per FAQ's but it didn't seem to work.
I then uninstalled the whole XAMPP installation and reinstalled it.
After the reinstallation, I checked via XAMPP Security and it said that there was NO MySQL root password. Yet, when I try to go into phpMyAdmin, it STILL says that the MySQL server rejects the connection.
I suspect that there is a secret file somewhere outside the normal installation area that still says there is a root password ... but I'm no expert.
Does anyone know how I can overcome this problem? Can I somehow get back to no password? If not, how do I find out what it is looking for and how do I change phpMyAdmin to use the correct info when trying to connect to the MySQL server?
Please don't assume that I know very much because I don't. But I'm a tryer. I'm happy to dig into configuration files if I need to, but I need to be told exactly what to do.
Thank you sooooooooo much.