1. root user can grant privileges to other user so you need to login as mysql -u , before granting privileges ... GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database.* to cruncher@localhost identified by "password" 2. create database IF NOT EXISTS indiagATpincampaignsDOTcom ; ERROR 1044 (42000): Access denied for user 'cruncher'@'localhost' to database 'indiagDOTcom' Reason : I did ... " grant all privileges on *.* to cruncher identified by "password" ; " instead of grant all privileges on *.* to cruncher@localhost identified by "password" ;