Php versions – MySQL 5.7.24 — The server requested authentication method unknown to the client [caching_sha2_password]

I’m using this software:

MAMP     4.2
MySQL    5.7.24  <-- PLEASE NOTE
PHP      7.4.1
Windows  10

This PHP code …

$dsn = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase;';
try {
  $dbh = new PDO($dsn, 'root', 'root');
} 
catch (PDOException $e) {
  echo $e;
}

… generates this error:

PDOException: PDO::__construct(): The server requested authentication method unknown to the client [caching_sha2_password]

Repeat: I am NOT using MySQL 8, and I repeat that fact because every article I’ve found on this topic claims that this error relates to MySQL version 8.

This SQL statement:

select user, plugin from mysql.user

Gives these results:

root            mysql_native_password   
mysql.session   mysql_native_password   
mysql.sys       mysql_native_password

I’ve added this to my.ini:

default-authentication-plugin = mysql_native_password

And I’m still getting the error after restarting the MySQL server. I’ve attempted to upgrade to MySQL 8.0 using MAMP’s tools, and that doesn’t happen. Is it a PHP PDO issue?

By the way, since MAMP on Windows 10 ships with MySQL 5.7 — I have no idea why — and I frequently use MAMP because it’s so easy to install and requires virtually no configuration, ‘upgrade to MySQL 8.0’ isn’t really the answer I’m seeking because I presume there is solution that involves tweaking the configuration. If it’s the only answer that anyone has, I’ll guess I’ll ditch MAMP and go with something else.

I welcome your advice.

Thanks, David