Error establishing a database connection

what database name did you input and what password?

If you followed it to the letter you may have in your wp-config:

database name: wordpress
database user: root
Database Password: password
DBHost: localhost

Well, my password is obviously different. I didn’t use “root” as database user and I was ready to thank you for fixing my problem and pointing out how stupid my mistake was, but after modifying my file it still doesn’t work…

No clue

tried random inputs for database name etc… without success…

There won’t be anything random about it. The username and password will be the exact username and password you created in MySQL and then assigned to your wordpress database. The database name will be the exact name of the database you created for your wordpress installation.

Did you successfully give the database user you created permissions on the wordpress database?

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON your_databasename.* TO your_databaseusername@localhost;

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

So I guess yes, it was successful

I’ve tried it twice, by creating and deleting new databases. Maybe one of you could give me the whole process of correctly making a database for wordpress, if that’s where I made a mistake.

I feel like I’m giving you guys too few elements on how to help me. So here’s my wp-config.php :

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', '[removed]');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', '[removed]');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

Maybe one of you could give me the whole process of correctly making a database for wordpress,

If you’ve opted not to install phpMyAdmin – or if you’re using the Ubuntu server distro (without a desktop GUI):

mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE wordpress;

CREATE USER pete@localhost;

SET PASSWORD FOR pete@localhost= PASSWORD("iampete");

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO pete@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'iampete';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

In the above example my wordpress database name is “wordpress”, the database username is “pete”, and petes password is “iampete”.

wp-config.php should look like this:

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'pete');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'iampete');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

Add the security keys – you can generate random keys here – https://api.www.ads-software.com/secret-key/1.1/salt/ – refresh the page to generate random keys.

..and I think that should do it.

[edit] Some reference material that illustrates the process using several different database related tools: Step 2: Create the Database and a User

I didn’t have security keys until now. I’ve added those, however I still get the same error. My database configuration seems to be fine, I’ve followed the exact steps you describe here.

Can a wrong security key cause this type of errors ? I’ve typed them manually so I can’t garantee that they are 100% the same as those of the page you gave me a link to.

Is there a way to give an overview of my current setup so I can show it to you and maybe find what’s wrong ?

I’ve been through the pages you added in your edit while trying to fix my problem, found nothing I might have done incorrectly.

PS : This problem isn’t vital for me, I’m trying to set this up only for private fun, thank you very much for helping me, don’t feel like this is too important.

Just a couple quick questions so I get a better idea of how you’re working with the OS:

– Did you install the Server addition of Ubuntu, or are you working from the Desktop version

-Did you at any point try installing WordPress from the Ubuntu Repo using “apt-get install wordpress” or by choosing it from the Ubuntu package manager?

I use Ubuntu server 14.04, I’m managing the server using SSH on my windows laptop.

I’m not sure about the meaning of your second question.

To get wordpress I used

wget https://www.ads-software.com/latest.tar.gz

extracted it etc…

So I think my answer to your second question is no.

It’s all good. “apt-get install wordpress” makes a mess. We can rule that out.

A couple things you might try just to get a better idea of what’s going on. If you want to get a better visual reference of whats going on in the database, you can install phpmyadmin and you should probably be able to access it from the browser on your laptop with no issues.

(sudo or sudo -i, your preference)

you’ve probably already done this, but just in case:

~# /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

Then to install phpMyAdmin

~# apt-get install php5-mcrypt phpmyadmin

after the install, you will need to run

~# php5enmod mcrypt

or else phpmyadmin will squawk about mcrypt not being installed, then run

~# service apache2 restart

If your server is set up with a static private ip, you should probably be able to hit phpmyadmin with your laptop browser from 192.168.x.x/phpmyadmin

See if you can log in as the root user, then see if you can log in as your wordpress database user. That might be revealing if both of those aren’t successful.

If you don’t want to install phpmyadmin, you might open a putty (or whatever you use to connect) session and log into the server as your regular user account, then see if you can connect to mysql using your wordpress database user.

A successful mysql connection as the user “pete” from my example earlier should look like this:

pete@ubuntu:~$ mysql -u pete -p
Enter password:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 70
Server version: 5.5.43-0ubuntu0.14.04.1 (Ubuntu)

Copyright (c) 2000, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql> show databases;

+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| wordpress          |
+--------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

I hope that might help reveal something database or user related for you.

[edit] .. I think an issue with keys might give you a blank page rather than a database connection message. I haven’t verified that, but I don’t believe that will cause the database error dialog.