Removing MySQL 5.7 Completely [closed]

First of all, do a backup of your needed databases with mysqldump

Note: If you want to restore later, just backup your relevant databases, and not the WHOLE, because the whole database might actually be the reason you need to purge and reinstall).

In total, do this:

sudo service mysql stop  #or mysqld
sudo killall -9 mysql
sudo killall -9 mysqld
sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo deluser -f mysql
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql
sudo apt-get purge mysql-server-core-5.7
sudo apt-get purge mysql-client-core-5.7
sudo rm -rf /var/log/mysql
sudo rm -rf /etc/mysql

All above commands in single line (just copy and paste):

sudo service mysql stop && sudo killall -9 mysql && sudo killall -9 mysqld && sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common && sudo apt-get autoremove && sudo apt-get autoclean && sudo deluser mysql && sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql && sudo apt-get purge mysql-server-core-5.7 && sudo apt-get purge mysql-client-core-5.7 && sudo rm -rf /var/log/mysql && sudo rm -rf /etc/mysql

You need to remove the /var/lib/mysql folder. Also, purge when you remove the packages (I'm told this helps).

sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql

I was encountering similar issues. The second line got rid of my issues and allowed me to set up MySql from scratch. Hopefully it helps you too!

Run these commands in the terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common

sudo apt-get autoremove

sudo apt-get autoclean

Run these commands separately as each command requires confirmation & if run as a block, the command below the one currently running will cancel the confirmation (leading to the command not being run).

Please refer to How do I uninstall Mysql?