Discussion on: Setting up WSL 2 for Web Development

[Xucong ZHAN]

Just to be clear, is your python app running in WSL or Windows?
Also, did you add the line bind-address=0.0.0.0 in your /etc/mysql/my.cnf?
I don't know your connection config, but double-check you are using the same host. 127.0.0.1 and localhost is not the same nor always interchangeable.

It's hard to tell what the problem is based on what you described, but I can try and replicate if that's also the case on my machine.

Update: OK I just tried, and it seems that with the latest WSL2 and MariaDB the bind-address=0.0.0.0 in /etc/mysql/my.cnf is no longer necessary. I can connect to my MariaDB from both WSL and Windows app with sqlalchemy and pymysql.

[Quillen]

OK. I think not being able to connect from datagrip and sqlalchemy is related.
MariaDB is running on WSL2 and I am able to connect to it from the terminal. I created admin user with root privilege.

MariaDB [(none)]> select user, host from information_schema.processlist;
+-------+-----------+
| user  | host      |
+-------+-----------+
| admin | localhost |
+-------+-----------+
1 row in set (0.000 sec)

I'd love to provide you with more detail. Here is my my.cnf:

[client-server]
# Port or socket location where to connect
# port = 3307
socket = /run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

# Import all .cnf files from configuration directory
!includedir /etc/mysql/conf.d/
!includedir /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/

I tried both what you described in this blog post and not binding the address. Both not working.
Would you mind share your my.cnf with me?

Here is my complete setup:

Clean uninstall:

sudo dpkg -l | grep mariadb 
 sudo apt-get purge mariadb*

Then

sudo apt update
sudo apt install mariadb-server

Start the service:

sudo service mysql start

Config by following this

sudo mysql_secure_installation

edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf (optional)

[mysqld]
port=3307 # or any port you like
bind-address=0.0.0.0

Then restart mariaDB:
sudo service mysql restart

[Megha Khateek]

"I had a similar issue when setting up MariaDB on WSL2 – everything worked fine from the terminal, but SQLAlchemy and DataGrip couldn't connect.

What helped me:
1️⃣ Grant access to the user beyond localhost:

sql
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GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON . TO 'admin'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
2️⃣ Ensure MariaDB is listening on the correct port:
Check the port in use:

bash
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sudo netstat -tulnp | grep mysql
If MariaDB is running on a non-default port (e.g., 3307), try explicitly specifying it in DataGrip or SQLAlchemy:

python
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engine = create_engine("mysql+pymysql://admin:password@127.0.0.1:3307/db_name")
3️⃣ Adjust WSL2 firewall settings:

bash
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sudo ufw allow 3307/tcp
sudo systemctl restart mariadb
4️⃣ Consider a containerized approach:
If the issue persists, deploying MariaDB in an isolated environment might help. I had success running a headless eCommerce system on Ubuntu 22.04 using this step-by-step deployment guide, and the database connection worked without any conflicts.

Try these steps—containerization might resolve compatibility issues. Hope this helps!"