Open the File

Open the wp-config.php file and find the section labeled: “Database settings.”

Compare Your Settings

Compare the settings in the file with the details provided by your hosting provider. Be careful to avoid typos or trailing spaces in the entries.

You can usually find your database details in your hosting control panel or the email you received when the database was set up.

The fields to check are:

If your hosting provider gives you multiple types of MySQL access, ensure you use one with full permissions.

Contact Your Hosting Provider

If the details are correct, contact your hosting provider to confirm that the MySQL server is operational and accessible. Alternatively, you can reset the database password via your hosting control panel and update it in the wp-config.php file. If the issue persists, your hosting support team may need to intervene.

This should help you resolve the “WordPress error establishing a database connection”.

Check Database Server Accessibility

If your database server is on a different machine than your web server, test connectivity from your web server to the database server using a command like:

mysql -u your_user_name_for_wordpress -h your_db_server_ip_or_url -p

You will either be prompted for the password and connected or receive a connection error.

Verify User Permissions

If the service is running and the database is accessible, ensure the database user has sufficient permissions for WordPress.

Log in to your MySQL server with root privileges and run the following commands:

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, INDEX, DROP, ALTER, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES ON your_db_name_for_wordpress.* TO your_user_name_for_wordpress@'localhost';

And then:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Replace the placeholders with your actual database credentials.

Be cautious when executing commands to ensure they are appropriate for your environment.