diff --git a/roles/mysql/tasks/Ubuntu_18_mysql_server.yml b/roles/mysql/tasks/Ubuntu_18_mysql_server.yml
index 218f94c497af6e88d7b29ce3ffa873ab605d957b..e5780cff5494eef14e6f829dfb92e8a9bdd47ae0 100644
--- a/roles/mysql/tasks/Ubuntu_18_mysql_server.yml
+++ b/roles/mysql/tasks/Ubuntu_18_mysql_server.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 # this will only work if a completely fresh db gets installed because it gets shipped with a blank root pw
 - name: update mysql root password for all root accounts
-  mysql_user: name=root host=localhost password={{ mysql_root_password }} login_user=root
+  mysql_user: name=root host=localhost password={{ mysql_root_password }} login_user=root check_implicit_admin=yes
 
 - name: "Adding user database"
   mysql_db: name={{ mysql_user_db_name }} state=present login_user=root login_password={{ mysql_root_password }}