MariaDB: Access denied for user 'root'@'%' to your database

I used to access the root user in MySQL just fine. But recently, I am no longer able to. I am able to login fine : mysql -u root -p Here is the mysql status after login : mysql> status -------------- mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.28, for debian-linux-gnu (i686) using readline 6.2 Connection id: 37 Current database: Current user: root@localhost SSL: Not in use Current pager: stdout Using outfile: '' Using delimiter: ; Server version: 5.5.28-0ubuntu0.12.04.3 (Ubuntu) Protocol version: 10 Connection: Localhost via UNIX socket Server characterset: latin1 Db characterset: latin1 Client characterset: utf8 Conn. characterset: utf8 UNIX socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock Uptime: 4 min 16 sec Threads: 1 Questions: 112 Slow queries: 0 Opens: 191 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 6 Queries per second avg: 0.437 -------------- But when I want to do any action, such as :   mysql> CREATE DATABASE moyennegenerale; ERROR 1044 (42000): Access denied for user 'root'@'%' to database 'moyennegenerale' I understand % is used to signify any host , but my status clearly states localhost. Does somebody have an idea of what might be going on?

Answer ___________________________________   I know what you did. Do this:   SELECT `User`, `Grant_priv` FROM `mysql`.`user` WHERE `User` = 'root'; You will probably notice it returns a 'N' for Grant_priv. So do this:   UPDATE `mysql`.`user` SET `Grant_priv` = 'Y' WHERE `User` = 'root';    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;    SELECT `User`, `Grant_priv` FROM `mysql`.`user`;   And walla! Hope that helps.