MySQL 8.0.17 on Windows - I forgot my root password, dont need to keep any previous DBs I have previously used MySQL for a class about a year ago and not since. I've forgotten the password and I need to use it again.  I don't need to be able to access any previous databases, so I tried stopping the service in command prompt and uninstalling then re-installing MySQL but this still resulted in me getting stuck at the "Accounts and Roles" section of the MySQL Installer where it asks for my root password. 

Is there a way I can reset it or start a new root account all together? I've seen tutorials for Ubuntu but I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to translate this to windows.
It's possible re-initialize the data directory to produce an empty MySQL instance. Here is the documentation describing the process: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/data-directory-initialization.html .

It tells the command to perform is:

bin\mysqld --initialize --console


or the following if you want to connect as root without password:

bin\mysqld --initialize-insecure --console


The data currently in the data dir would be overwritten. If there still is a chance it might be needed in future, you may find datadir param in my.cnf and backup the directory before proceeding to re-initialization.

Another possible option is to uninstall MySQL, remove or rename datadir as found in my.cnf and install again. It shouldn't ask for the old root password then.