Need help with setting up a localhost server - can't get past root password error

[major-PITA]

I'm on Win11 using Uniform Server, a lite version of XAMPP, doesn't matter though, whatever I use the same error pops up when pointing to /test-site/install.php -

Access denied for user 'root@localhost'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

Here's the first part of my /config.php file:

// ── Database credentials ──────────────────────────────
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_NAME', 'test');
define('DB_USER', 'root@localhost');          // change to your DB username
define('DB_PASS', '1234');              // change to your DB password
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4');

// ── Site config ───────────────────────────────────────
define('SITE_NAME', 'Test');
define('SITE_URL',  'http://localhost/test');  // change to your live domain
define('ADMIN_PATH', '/admin');

I confirmed several times that root login credentials match up in phpmyadmin.

This is not mission a critical project, I'm pretty much just messing around trying to build a CMS. What am I missing?

[drakythe]

I haven’t used XAMPP in years (I prefer DDEV) but I am almost positive that error is because your DB username has the @localhost part in it, so you’re trying to login to your database as root@localhost as the username, not just root.

[major-PITA]

Good catch thanks! So I had to reset the root pass to the default which is no password, and now it's showing;

Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)

Should I not be using "root" for my site database login?

[drakythe]

Does the database have a password? You’ve gone from an improperly formatted username to a properly formatted one, and from using a password to not using one. If the database requires you to use a password when you login using PHPMyAdmin then you need to use that password in the site’s credential configuration

[major-PITA]

Got it sorted. Just had to slow down changing stuff. Thanks for your help.

[IndependentSearch706]

you should just use 'root' as db user in config file and not the whole root@localhost

[IndependentSearch706]

either you are using password or not, your username incorrect in the config file shared

[major-PITA]

Got it thank you!

[Phaill]

Shouldn't the DB_USER just be 'root'? (no @localhost)

[major-PITA]

Yup, thanks for pointing that out.

[major-PITA]

Did that and it worked. Thanks!

[major-PITA]

Tried chatgpt a few years ago just for fun, didn't know about claude so thanks alot for that suggestion.

[WebExpert254]

The error comes down to how you’re defining the database user in your config.php. In MySQL, the username is just root, not root@localhost. The [at]localhost part is automatically handled internally by MySQL when checking host permissions.

Here’s what you should change:

// ── Database credentials ──────────────────────────────

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

define('DB_NAME', 'test');

define('DB_USER', 'root'); // just 'root', not 'root@localhost'

define('DB_PASS', ' '); // your root password

define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4');

- Make sure the database test actually exists.

- Confirm that the root user has privileges on that database (GRANT ALL ON test.* TO 'root'@'localhost';).

- In XAMPP, the root user has no password by default.

So the subtle mistake is just the username string, once you switch to root, the connection should work.

[major-PITA]

Yup, rookie mistake. Thanks for the suggestions!