Cannot Connect After Install

[Michael Tarullo]

I had an older install of MySQL 5.6 that I had not used in a while. I tried to connect from MySQL Workbench using the root user ID and could not.

I completely uninstalled MySQL, removed any MySQL directories that were not removed by the uninstall (e.g. data), downloaded MySQL 5.6.25.0 and reinstalled. During the install, on the security config step I received the following error:

Beginning configuration step: Applying security settings
Attempting to update security settings.
Authentication to host 'localhost' for user 'root' using method 'mysql_native_password' failed with message: Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
Ended configuration step: Applying security settings

I finished the install and the Windows service was running. I tried to connect form MySQL Workbench again and was not able to connect.

I found some instructions about resetting the root password. I created a text file with the following:
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('Geology')

Then I stopped the MySQL Windows service and started MySQL from the command line with the following:
mysqld --init-file=C:\\mysql-init.txt

The file in the command line contains the password reset command (shown above).

When I attempt to connect with MySQL Workbench after the command line start I have no problem, I'm not even prompted for the root password.

Can someone tell me what is going on?