As suggested above, i had similar issue with mysql-5.7.18,
i did this in this way
1. Executed this command from "MYSQL_HOME\bin\mysqld.exe --initialize-insecure"
2. then started "MYSQL_HOME\bin\mysqld.exe"
3. Connect workbench to this localhost:3306 with username 'root'
4. then executed this query "SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = 'root';"
password was also updated successfully.