MariaDB 'You do not have privileges to manipulate with the users!' Apache/2.4.41
PHP 7.3.9
Windows 10 64bit


I have been using XAMPP without issue for months now, and this morning when I turned on my PC adn tried to accedd my databases via HeidiSQL I received some strange errors. They all seem to relate to users / permissions. I haven't (or don't recall!) changed any database user accounts, so this is confusing me.

Using HeidiSQL I can access my localhost and view the available databases. I can create a new database. When I click on the 'manage users' tabe the program freezes and i have to force close.

Using Phpmyadmin I can't get any further. Except there's a message displayed;


  You do not have privileges to manipulate with the users!


I have a root user with no password as this is a local testing environment.

The whole localhost database setup is running painfully slow. My localhost has 25 databases, mosts Joomla / Wordpress so not huge.

I've checked that everything is running on the correct port, and I don't have multiple instances opened. I've restarted my PC numerous times, no change.

The mysql error log doesn't have anything unusual.

Is there anything else I should be looking at?
Can you login with a command line client? (just to have a more clear picture of what is happening)
If yes :
   What does "select user, host, db, select_priv from db;" tell you?

Are you able to start the database with the --skip-grant-tables option?
If yes :
   Now have a look at mysql.db and mysql.user to check permissions.

-- EDIT:
Just wondering: Can you do something like :
grant ALL on . to ''@'';
grant ALL on . to ''@'localhost';

I have the feeling your user lacks the appropriate permissions.
(If the above works you would probably be able to do more with 'your_user' now.