Ubuntu 12.04: Unable to add or delete a user named 'mysql'

Question

I am trying to install MySql on Ubuntu 12.04 but the installation is failing with the error: "Can't change to run as user 'mysql'. Check if the user 'mysql' exits."

So I go ahead type in the command : 'cat /etc/passwd | grep mysql' and result is null.

I try to add a user 'mysql' by issuing the command 'useradd mysql'. But it fails with the message: 'useradd: user 'mysql' already exists'.

When I try to delete the user 'mysql' using the command 'userdel mysql' it also fails with the message "userdel: cannot remove entry 'mysql' from /etc/passwd."

Can anyone explain me what's going on and suggest a solution.

It may be you've just neglected to paste it in, but shouldn't you be running sudo before all of those commands? — NickW, Oct 23 '13 at 10:20
Thought so :) .. to quote the site "As of Ubuntu 12.04, MySQL 5.5 is installed by default", seems odd you'd have to install it. — NickW, Oct 23 '13 at 15:01
Re-installing Ubuntu would be the easiest thing to do. But I would like a solution that does not involve re-installing Ubuntu. — Afaque H, Oct 23 '13 at 17:00

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 21 '14 at 12:00

Alright, this problem might be because of this bug in Ubuntu, but I am not sure. Anyways, I found a way to solve this problem.

I manually add group mysql by adding the following line to /etc/group:

mysql:x:1024:mysql

Similarly I manually add the user mysql by adding the following line to /etc/passwd:

mysql:x:1024:1024:MySQL Server,,,:/nonexistent:/bin/false

Re-install MySQL:

sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-*
sudo apt-get install mysql-server

And that was it :).

check for a hidden lock file in /etc. That sometime break useradd/usermod etc commands without error emssage. — mveroone, Mar 21 '14 at 12:46

Ubuntu 12.04: Unable to add or delete a user named 'mysql'

1 Answers1