The "README" in c;\mysql says " Normally one should add a password for the 'root' user and take msqld down with: mysqladmin --user=root --password=your_password shutdown "

That fails saying it can't connect to root@localhost. (Yes, I put a HOST entry in C:\WINDOWS even though I had one in the appropriate place in WINNT.)

README continues: mysql mysql "delete from user where host='localhost' and user'';

mysqladmin reload mysqladmin -u root password your_password mysqladmin: unable to change password; error: 'parse error near 'SQL_OPTION password='11fe543c5b3c5a61'' at line 1' (similar error with and without single quotes around your password.)

What am I doing wrong?

Is the README in error or is it my interpretation?