Question

I am really confused by the wordpress installation. The wp_config file has the root username and password for my instance of mysql (localhost) and I have created a blank database called ‘wordpress’ (I am not sure whether I am supposed to have a database created to begin with).

When I go to http://localhost/wordpress/ I get an 'Error establishing a database connection' message. Am I suppose to have a database called ‘wordpress’ to begin with?

These are my credentials from the config file:

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'root');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'friday');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

Answer 1

See http://techtrouts.com/mac-mysql-does-not-connect-on-localhost-but-connects-on-127001/
for some information on this.

Basically, on a default installation on a Mac you have to connect to 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost. So if you change the following it should work.

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');