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Description

This error indicates that a user management operation, such as creating, dropping, or renaming a user, could not be completed. It commonly occurs due to privilege issues, incorrect user existence states, or malformed user specifications.

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Error Message

Operation %s failed for %s

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Known Causes

4 known causes

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Insufficient Privileges

The connected user lacks the necessary administrative privileges (e.g., CREATE USER, DROP USER) to perform the requested user management operation.

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User Already Exists

You attempted to create a user account that already exists on the MariaDB server.

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User Does Not Exist

The specified user account for an operation like dropping, renaming, or granting privileges does not exist.

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Malformed User Specification

The user or host part of the account name was syntactically incorrect or contained an invalid character.

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Solutions

4 solutions available

1. Verify User and Hostname Combinations easy

Ensure the user and hostname combination you are trying to manage actually exists in MariaDB.

1

Connect to your MariaDB server as a user with sufficient privileges (e.g., root).

mysql -u root -p

2

Query the `mysql.user` table to check for the existence of the user and their associated host(s).

SELECT user, host FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'your_username';
-- Replace 'your_username' with the actual username.

3

If the user or the specific host combination doesn't exist, you might be trying to modify a non-existent entry. Create the user if necessary.

CREATE USER 'your_username'@'your_hostname' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
-- Replace 'your_username', 'your_hostname', and 'your_password' accordingly.

4

If you are certain the user and host exist, review the operation you are attempting (e.g., `ALTER USER`, `DROP USER`, `GRANT`) for typos or incorrect parameters.

2. Check for Case Sensitivity Issues easy

MariaDB username and hostname comparisons can be case-sensitive depending on the operating system and configuration.

1

Connect to your MariaDB server.

mysql -u root -p

2

When referring to users and hosts in your management operations, ensure you are using the exact case as stored in the `mysql.user` table.

-- Example: If the user is stored as 'AdminUser', use 'AdminUser' not 'adminuser'.
-- If the host is stored as 'localhost', use 'localhost' not 'LOCALHOST'.

3

You can explicitly check the case of existing users and hosts with the following query:

SELECT user, host FROM mysql.user;

3. Re-evaluate User Creation or Modification Syntax medium

Incorrect syntax in `CREATE USER`, `ALTER USER`, or `GRANT` statements is a common cause of this error.

1

Carefully review the SQL statement you are executing. Pay close attention to the syntax for user creation and modification.

-- For creating a user:
CREATE USER 'new_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'secure_password';

-- For altering a user's password:
ALTER USER 'existing_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_secure_password';

-- For granting privileges:
GRANT SELECT, INSERT ON my_database.* TO 'user'@'localhost';

-- Ensure you are using the correct delimiters and quoting.

2

Consult the MariaDB documentation for the specific version you are running for the correct syntax of the command you are using.

3

If you are using a tool or script to manage users, verify its configuration and the commands it's generating.

4. Flush Privileges After Changes easy

Sometimes, changes to user privileges or user accounts are not immediately recognized by the server without flushing them.

1

Connect to your MariaDB server with administrative privileges.

mysql -u root -p

2

Execute the `FLUSH PRIVILEGES` command to reload the grant tables.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

3

Attempt the user management operation again.

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Related Errors

5 related errors

MariaDB Error 1396: User Management Operation Failed