When trying to log into the MySQL shell as root you get an access denied error. To fix:
Add this line to /etc/my.cnf and restart MySQL:
skip-grant-tables
Follow these steps to reset the MySQL root password:
mysql -u root
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO root@localhost IDENTIFIED BY ‘password’ WITH GRANT OPTION;
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> exit;service mysql restart
Remove the line you added to my.cnf and restart MySQL again.
Now go into WHM and reset the MySQL root password again. This is is necessary in order to build an association with cPanel and phpmyadmin, as well as the root user on the server to MySQL (meaning, when logged in as root to the server, you don’t have to specify a mysql root password to log in).