Common Errors When Using MySQL Programs •What does a client program say when you try to connect to the MySQL server? (Try with  mysql , for example.) Does the client jam? Do you get any output from the program? 5287 shell>  mysqladmin version shell>  mysqladmin variables shell>  mysqladmin -h ‘hostname‘ version variables shell>  mysqladmin -h ‘hostname‘ --port=3306 version shell>  mysqladmin -h host_ip version shell>  mysqladmin --protocol=SOCKET --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock version If a  mysqld  process is running, you can check it by trying the following commands. The port number or Unix socket file name might be different in your setup.  host_ip  represents the IP address of the machine where the server is running. Start by checking whether there is a process named  mysqld  running on your server host. (Use  ps xa | grep mysqld  on Unix or the Task Manager on Windows.) If there is no such process, you should start the server. See Section 2.10.2, “Starting the Server” . The error (2003)  Can’t connect to MySQL server on ’ server ’ (10061)  indicates that the network connection has been refused. You should check that there is a MySQL server running, that it has network connections enabled, and that the network port you specified is the one configured on the server. The error (2002)  Can’t connect to ...  normally means that there is no MySQL server running on the system or that you are using an incorrect Unix socket file name or TCP/IP port number when trying to connect to the server. You should also check that the TCP/IP port you are using has not been blocked by a firewall or port blocking service. If the MySQL server is running on Windows, you can connect using TCP/IP. If the server is started with the  named_pipe  system variable enabled, you can also connect with named pipes if you run the client on the host where the server is running. The name of the named pipe is  MySQL  by default. If you do not give a host name when connecting to  mysqld , a MySQL client first tries to connect to the named pipe. If that does not work, it connects to the TCP/IP port. You can force the use of named pipes on Windows by using .  as the host name. A MySQL client on Unix can connect to the  mysqld  server in two different ways: By using a Unix socket file to connect through a file in the file system (default  /tmp/mysql.sock ), or by using TCP/IP, which connects through a port number. A Unix socket file connection is faster than TCP/IP, but can be used only when connecting to a server on the same computer. A Unix socket file is used if you do not specify a host name or if you specify the special host name  localhost . An  Access denied  error can have many causes. Often the problem is related to the MySQL accounts that the server permits client programs to use when connecting. See Section 6.2, “Access Control and Account Management” , and Section 6.2.21, “Troubleshooting Problems Connecting to MySQL” . This section lists some errors that users frequently encounter when running MySQL programs. Although the problems show up when you try to run client programs, the solutions to many of the problems involves changing the configuration of the MySQL server. When sending a bug report, you should follow the outline described in Section 1.6, “How to Report Bugs or Problems” . B.3.2 Common Errors When Using MySQL Programs B.3.2.1 Access denied B.3.2.2 Can’t connect to [local] MySQL server