MyBB Community Forums

To others trying to configure their database, I noticed some things.

$config['database']['type'] = 'mysql'; // what database type (mysql, postgres, etc)
$config['database']['database'] = 'mybb'; // what the database is called
$config['database']['table_prefix'] = 'mybb_'; // this is put in front of all table names for MyBB

$config['database']['hostname'] = 'localhost'; // the host or server
$config['database']['username'] = 'laie'; // the user to use for the db
$config['database']['password'] = '****'; // the password for the db

If all possible, you should create a separate username / password for the db than the one provided by your host. The new db user should have limited permissions.

honestly i just had this problem and when i went to update my forum from 1.6 to 1.8 i had issues. but then after reading this and opening config.php i realized it was empty. so i went and found the config.php file from my full ftp backup and installed it over the new empty one and then the installer at the install web address realized i was updating instead installing fresh and had no problems after that. so for those upgrading and it ask for the database stuff just replace the /inc/config.php file with one from your last ftp backup.