XAMPP phpmyadmin MySQL said cannot connect: invalid settings

[Sydroce]

I can't open phpmyadmin.

setting the password to root in config.inc does not resolve the problem for me.

Here is the full Error when I open localhost/phpmyadmin:

MySQL said: Documentation

Cannot connect: invalid settings

mysqli_real_connect(): Unexpected server respose while doing caching_sha2 auth: 21

mysqli_real_connect(): MySQL server has gone away

mysqli_real_connect(): (HY000/2006): MySQL server has gone away

Connection for controluser as defined in your configuration failed.

mysqli_real_connect(): Unexpected server respose while doing caching_sha2 auth: 21

mysqli_real_connect(): MySQL server has gone away

mysqli_real_connect(): (HY000/2006): MySQL server has gone away

phpMyAdmin tried to connect to the MySQL server, and the server rejected the connection. You should check the host, username and password in your configuration and make sure that they correspond to the information given by the administrator of the MySQL server.

Help would be very much appreciated. THANKS!