Ghost install fails on Ubuntu - MySQL: 'mysql_native_password' is not loaded

[DavidBiesack]

Path: /faq/troubleshooting-mysql-database

I'm following https://docs.ghost.org/install/ubuntu

on Ubuntu 25

uname -a
Linux srv1326144 6.17.0-8-generic #8-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Nov 14 21:44:46 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I tried to create a new root password for myqsql but that failed

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH 'mysql_native_password' BY '<my-new-root-password>';

As per https://askubuntu.com/questions/1555334/plugin-mysql-native-password-is-not-loaded
I see that mysql_native_password is deprecated

so I instead used

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password BY '<my-new-root-password>';

which worked, but then later when running

ghost install

as per the instructions, when prompted for the MySQL root password to create a new Ghost user
for mysql the command failed (redacted for security):

Starting Ghost
One or more errors occurred.

1) CliError

Message: Creating new MySQL user errored with message: Plugin 'mysql_native_password' is not loaded
Context: CREATE USER 'ghost-818'@'127.0.0.1' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY RANDOM PASSWORD

Perhaps update the install command to not expect the deprecated 'mysql_native_password` to be used.

Do I need to install that mysql plugin?