How to fix ERROR 1044: Access denied for user to database in MySQL

Connect to MySQL as a user with administrative privileges (usually root) and check what permissions the affected user has:

SHOW GRANTS FOR 'username'@'hostname';

If the output shows only GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'username'@'hostname', the user has no actual permissions.

Note: Replace 'username' with the actual MySQL user and 'hostname' with where they connect from (localhost, 127.0.0.1, %, etc.).

If the user lacks permissions, grant them using the GRANT statement:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database_name.* TO 'username'@'hostname';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

For more restrictive permissions, grant only specific privileges:

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON database_name.* TO 'username'@'hostname';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Important: Always include FLUSH PRIVILEGES; after GRANT to apply the changes immediately.

If the user does not exist, create it first before granting privileges (required in MySQL 8.0+):

CREATE USER 'username'@'hostname' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database_name.* TO 'username'@'hostname';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

For remote connections from any host, use the wildcard hostname:

CREATE USER 'username'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database_name.* TO 'username'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Confirm the privileges were granted correctly:

SHOW GRANTS FOR 'username'@'hostname';

You should now see entries like:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `database_name`.* TO `username`@`hostname`
GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO `username`@`hostname`

Then reconnect with the user account and attempt the operation that was failing.

If you are on shared hosting, database naming must follow the pattern: cpaneluser_databasename

Create databases through the hosting control panel (cPanel MySQL Database tool or Plesk) rather than SQL commands. If you are importing a .sql file, remove any CREATE DATABASE or USE statements from the file before import, as shared hosting users cannot execute those commands.

Edit your backup .sql file and remove or comment out lines like:

-- DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS database_name;
-- CREATE DATABASE database_name;
-- USE database_name;

Then import the remaining content into your existing database.

MySQL treats localhost (socket connection) and 127.0.0.1 (TCP/IP) as different hosts.

If connecting from an application and getting error 1044, verify your connection string uses the same hostname as your GRANT statement. If your user is:

CREATE USER 'app'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

But your application connects to 127.0.0.1, create another user or grant both:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database_name.* TO 'app'@'localhost';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database_name.* TO 'app'@'127.0.0.1';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Or use the wildcard:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database_name.* TO 'app'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;