Need Help with PHP Database Connection Issues

[hellmmithha]

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to PHP and I've been working on a simple web project where I need to connect to a MySQL database. I've followed a few tutorials, but I'm running into an issue when trying to establish a connection using mysqli.

Here's the code I've been using:

<?php
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$dbname = "myDatabase";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}
echo "Connected successfully";
?>

However, I keep getting an error that says "Connection failed: Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'". I've double-checked the credentials, and the database exists, but I'm still unable to connect.

Has anyone encountered this issue before? If so, what should I look for to resolve it? Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Respected community member!

 

[therope]

This error typically means that either the credentials you're using are incorrect or the user doesn't have the right permissions to access the database from your host.

Even if you're confident that the password is empty, it's worth confirming it against your actual MySQL configuration. Also, depending on your environment, the root user might be restricted or configured to use a different authentication method, especially in newer MySQL versions where auth_socket is common.

If you're on a local setup like XAMPP or MAMP, the root password might be set to something specific or empty, but behavior can vary. It's also generally a better idea to avoid using the root user and instead create a dedicated user with proper access to the specific database you're working with.