I had similar error during `CREATE USER` query. I did following solution to rectify the user table. ALTER TABLE `user` ADD `Create_tablespace_priv` ENUM('N','Y') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'N' AFTER `Trigger_priv`; ALTER TABLE `user` ADD `plugin` CHAR(64) NULL AFTER `max_user_connections`; ALTER TABLE `user` ADD `authentication_string` TEXT NULL DEFAULT NULL AFTER `plugin`; ALTER TABLE `user` ADD `password_expired` ENUM('N','Y') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'N' AFTER `authentication_string`; Now `CREATE USER` query works fine.!! Rectification is achieved from the reference of the answer to [Cannot GRANT privileges as root](http://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/16397/cannot-grant-privileges-as-root/16441#16441). Thank you [RolandoMySQLDBA](http://dba.stackexchange.com/users/877).! Following helped to create above SQL: <PRE> +------------------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+------+-----+---------+ | Field (MySQL 5.1) | Field (MySQL 5.6) | Type | Null | Key | Default | +------------------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+------+-----+---------+ | Host | Host | char(60) | NO | PRI | | | User | User | char(16) | NO | PRI | | | Password | Password | char(41) | NO | | | | Select_priv | Select_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Insert_priv | Insert_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Update_priv | Update_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Delete_priv | Delete_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Create_priv | Create_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Drop_priv | Drop_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Reload_priv | Reload_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Shutdown_priv | Shutdown_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Process_priv | Process_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | File_priv | File_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Grant_priv | Grant_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | References_priv | References_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Index_priv | Index_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Alter_priv | Alter_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Show_db_priv | Show_db_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Super_priv | Super_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Create_tmp_table_priv | Create_tmp_table_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Lock_tables_priv | Lock_tables_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Execute_priv | Execute_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Repl_slave_priv | Repl_slave_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Repl_client_priv | Repl_client_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Create_view_priv | Create_view_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Show_view_priv | Show_view_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Create_routine_priv | Create_routine_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Alter_routine_priv | Alter_routine_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Create_user_priv | Create_user_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Event_priv | Event_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | | Trigger_priv | Trigger_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N | <b>| | Create_tablespace_priv | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N |</B> | ssl_type | ssl_type | enum('','ANY','X509','SPECIFIED') | NO | | | | ssl_cipher | ssl_cipher | blob | NO | | NULL | | x509_issuer | x509_issuer | blob | NO | | NULL | | x509_subject | x509_subject | blob | NO | | NULL | | max_questions | max_questions | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | | max_updates | max_updates | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | | max_connections | max_connections | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | | max_user_connections | max_user_connections | int(11) unsigned | NO | | 0 | <b>| | plugin | char(64) | YES | | |</B> <b>| | authentication_string | text | YES | | NULL |</B> <b>| | password_expired | enum('N','Y') | NO | | N |</B> +------------------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+------+-----+---------+ </PRE>