Ah, figured it out:
MySQL 5.5.8 GA
Database: mysql
Table: user
Column: authentication_string
This is a text column set to NOT NULL. There can be no default value for a text type column. I modified the table to set the authentication_string column to be nullable. Then the MySQL Server Instance Configuration Wizard can complete including Apply Security Settings.
Beware: I have no idea of the implications of what I just did. I have no idea what the MySQL Server Instance Configuration Wizard is doing in "applying security settings." All I know is that making that column nullable allowed the Wizard to complete successfully.
If you ask me, this 5.5.8 GA should be RC3 -- the installation is more problematic than 5.5 RC1 and 5.5 RC2. Before getting this problem, I had the problem that the server wouldn't even start up because it was colliding with some files left behind by the 5.5 RC2 installation which make the InnoDB engine puke at startup.
Apparently THAT issue has been around awhile:
http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?22,144428,144428
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2010 12:16AM by Chris Besant.