How to recover Mysql root password

You can recover the mysql root password just following the procedure:
1. Stop the mysql server
#/etc/init.d/mysql stop

output:
Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld.

2. Start the mysql server without the password such as:
#mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

output:
[1] 5988
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
mysqld_safe[6025]: started

3.Connect to mysql server using mysql client
#mysql -u root

output:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1 to server version: 4.1.15-Debian_1-log

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql>

4.Now setup new mysql root user password
mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("NEW-ROOT-PASSWORD") where User='root';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

5.After it stop the mysql server
#/etc/init.d/mysql stop

output:
Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld
STOPPING server from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
mysqld_safe[6186]: ended

[1]+ Done mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

6.Start the mysql server and test its working?
#/etc/init.d/mysql start
#mysql -u root -p