Problem Definition

When using PhpMyAdmin with XAMPP, the following error was received due to lack of authorization in the system tables belonging to the pma user:

#1142 - SELECT command denied to user 'pma'@'localhost' for table 'pma__table_uiprefs'

This error prevents personal data such as table settings, column preferences, and views from being saved on the PhpMyAdmin interface.

Cause of Error

The pma user was created during the installation of XAMPP, but the necessary permissions such as SELECT, INSERT were not granted to the tables in the phpmyadmin database.
Additionally, mysql.user, one of the MySQL system tables, may be corrupted.

Solution Steps

1. Start XAMPP Control Panel as Administrator

Right-click the XAMPP Control Panel icon.
Click the "Run as administrator" option.

This step ensures that MySQL services run with full permissions.

2. Reset PhpMyAdmin Session

Click the "Clear session data" icon in the upper left corner of the PhpMyAdmin interface.
Browser cookies/session data will be cleared.

3. Repair from Command Line

Run Command:

cd C:\xampp\mysql\bin
.\u005cmysqlcheck -u root -p --auto-repair --databases mysql

If it asks for a password, press ENTER. (XAMPP is generally passwordless.)

4. Re-enter PhpMyAdmin

When the PhpMyAdmin session is refreshed, the error will be seen to be resolved. The pma user will be able to access the system tables in the phpmyadmin database.

The reason for this error is that the pma user was not granted permissions and possibly corrupted MySQL tables. The problem has been successfully resolved by running XAMPP as administrator, resetting session data, and repairing system tables with the mysqlcheck command.