The world is going crazy. The mysql manual for 5.7.3 is not working.

Here is how to remove the password…

/etc/init.d/mysql stop
mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables

# from another tab

mysql 
UNINSTALL PLUGIN validate_password;

use mysql;

# choose
update user set authentication_string=password('your_password') where user='root';
update user set authentication_string=password('') where user='root';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

update user set plugin="mysql_native_password";

/etc/init.d/mysql stop
sudo kill -9 $(pgrep mysql)
mysql -u root -pyour_password

/etc/init.d/mysql strart