Found Option without Preceding Group in my.cnf File

When attempting to connect to a MySQL database remotely using the command mysql -u root -p, users may encounter the error message:

Found option without preceding group in config file: /etc/mysql/my.cnf at line: 1

Cause

This error occurs when the my.cnf configuration file is missing the [mysqld] header. The my.cnf file contains configuration settings for MySQL, and each section must be enclosed within square brackets ([]) with the corresponding section name.

Solution

To resolve this issue, add the [mysqld] header as the first line in the /etc/mysql/my.cnf file.

[mysqld]
... (remaining configuration settings)

For example, if you wish to set the default time zone:

[mysqld]
default-time-zone = " 08:00"
... (remaining configuration settings)

Restart MySQL

After making the necessary changes to the my.cnf file, restart the MySQL service to apply the new settings.

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo mysqld stop
sudo mysqld start

CentOS/Red Hat

sudo service mysqld stop
sudo service mysqld start

Once the MySQL service has been restarted, you should be able to establish a remote connection without encountering the error message.