Answer - you can add users two different ways: by using GRANT statements or by manipulating the MySQL grant tables directly. The preferred method is to use GRANT statements, because they are more concise and less error-prone. The examples below show how to use the mysql client to set up new users. These examples assume that privileges are set up according to the defaults described in the previous section. This means that to make changes, you must be on the same machine where mysqld is running, you must connect as the MySQL root user, and the root user must have the insert privilege for the mysql database and the reload administrative privilege. Also, if you have changed the root user password, you must specify it for the mysql commands below. You can add new users by issuing GRANT statements: shell> mysql --user=root mysql mysqlgt; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO monty@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass' WITH GRANT OPTION; mysqlgt; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO monty@"%" IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass' WITH GRANT OPTION; mysqlgt; GRANT RELOAD,PROCESS ON *.* TO admin@localhost; mysqlgt; GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO dummy@localhost; These GRANT statements set up three new users: monty A full superuser who can connect to the server from anywhere, but who must use a password 'some_pass' to do so. Note that we must issue GRANT statements for both monty@localhost and monty@"%". If we don't add the entry with localhost, the anonymous user entry for localhost that is created by mysql_install_db will take precedence when we connect from the local host, because it has a more specific Host field value and thus comes earlier in the user table sort order. admin A user who can connect from localhost without a password and who is granted the reload and process administrative privileges. This allows the user to execute the mysqladmin reload, mysqladmin refresh, and mysqladmin flush-* commands, as well as mysqladmin process list . No database-related privileges are granted. (They can be granted later by issuing additional GRANT statements.) dummy A user who can connect without a password, but only from the local host. The global privileges are all set to 'N' -- the USAGE privilege type allows you to create a