Page History

...

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost.localdomain' = PASSWORD('new-password');
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'127.0.0.1' = PASSWORD('new-password');

The root account is like the Unix "superuser" so take care as to how this account is configured for security.  In general, you should prefer to use other accounts, but root can be used for operations such as creating new databases.

Setting Up the HPS Database and User Accounts

...