Looking for a powerful tool for local WordPress development? DevKinsta features one-click site creation, built-in HTTPS, powerful email and database management tools, and more. Whatever the reason, being able to change MySQL passwords is a valuable skill that could come in handy. Regularly changing passwords can help offset issues that might arise without this practice.įinally, you may have simply forgotten your password and, as a result, can’t access files or functions that you need on your local XAMPP WordPress installation. Doing so helps prevent malicious activity, particularly if you use the same password in multiple places. Anyone could log in to the user account and edit files on your local installation.Īpart from that, it’s also a smart security practice to change your passwords periodically. As such, having no password protection for this user is a major security hole. The root user is essentially the administrator account-it has unrestricted access to all commands and files in the system. This means that there is no security on this account by default. First and most important: when you install XAMPP on your computer, the password for the “root” user is left empty. There are several reasons why you might want (or need) to change your MySQL password. Why You Might Want to Change Your MySQL Password