MySQL fails on: mysql "ERROR 1524 (HY000): Plugin 'auth_socket' is not loaded"
<p>My local environment is:</p>

<ul>
<li>fresh Ubuntu 16.04</li>
<li>with PHP 7</li>
<li><p>with installed MySQL 5.7</p>

<pre><code>sudo apt-get install mysql-common mysql-server
</code></pre></li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>When I tried to login to MySQL (via CLI):</p>

<pre><code>mysql -u root -p
</code></pre>

<p>I came across an cyclic issue with 3 steps.</p>

<h2>1) First was some socket issue</h2>

<pre><code>ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock'
</code></pre>

<p><strong>Solution: restarting PC.</strong></p>

<p>Which led to another error:</p>

<h2>2) With access denied</h2>

<pre><code>ERROR 1698 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'.
</code></pre>

<p>Possible issue? Wrong password for "root" user!</p>

<p><strong>Solution: <a href="https://support.rackspace.com/how-to/mysql-resetting-a-lost-mysql-root-password/">reset root password with this tutorial</a>.</strong></p>

<p>With correct password and working socket, there comes last error.</p>

<h2>3) Incorrect auth plugin</h2>

<pre><code>mysql "ERROR 1524 (HY000): Plugin 'unix_socket' is not loaded"
</code></pre>

<p>Here I stopped or somehow got to 1) again.</p>