Unable to access Plesk GUI: Access denied for user ‘admin’@’localhost’ (using password: YES)

Dmitry Bystrov

1 year ago

Symptoms

Plesk interface is inaccessible. One of the following error messages is shown in a web-browser or when executing some Plesk utilities, like plesk db or plesk login:

ERROR: 500 PleskExceptionDatabase
Zend_Db_Adapter_Exception: SQLSTATE[HY000] [1045] Access denied for user 'admin'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

ERROR: PleskFatalException
Unable to connect to database: saved admin password is incorrect.
0: common_func.php3:93
psaerror(string 'Unable to connect to database: saved admin password is incorrect.')
1: auth.php3:127
Additionally, an exception has occurred while trying to report this error: Zend_Exception
No entry is registered for key &;translate&; (Abstract.php:144)

Cause

The hashed password in the file /etc/psa/.psa.shadow, that is used to access Plesk database, does not match the admin password in the 'mysql' database.

Resolution

If the password for MySQL admin user is known

Make a backup of the file /etc/psa/.psa.shadow:

# cp /etc/psa/.psa.shadow /etc/psa/.psa.shadow.bak
Insert the new password in /etc/psa/.psa.shadow in plain text:

# echo 'new_password' > /etc/psa/.psa.shadow

Note: do not forget to replace the new password from the command by the proper password.
Set the same password using Plesk utility in order to store it encrypted in /etc/psa/.psa.shadow:

# PSA_PASSWORD=new_password /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/ch_admin_passwd

Note: if this command produces some output, apply the 2 method.

If the password for MySQL admin user is unknown

Connect to the Plesk server via SSH.
With the command below, check if the directive old-passwords exist in the MySQL configuration file my.cnf (no output means it does not exist):

# grep -ir old-passwords /etc/my*
- If it exists, remove it using a text editor.
Get a hashed password…

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