How to fix phpMyAdmin error #1231 - Variable 'lc_messages' can't be set to the value of

Problem:

After logging in to your phpMyAdmin instance, you get an error message like this:

#1231 - Variable 'lc_messages' can't be set to the value of 'de_DE'

Solution

This error message is caused by a bad language code - in the example listed above, MySQL does not understand the de_DE language code.

The easiest fix for this is to set phpMyAdmin to a fixed language. In order to do this, add this line to your config in config.inc.php on the server.

$cfg['Lang'] = 'en';

You can add this almost anywhere in the file, but I recommend adding it after the $cfg['blowfish_secret'] line.

In case the error message does not disappear after doing this, ensure there is no other $cfg['Lang'] line in config.inc.php.