Have you ever had a big (and when i say big I mean BIG) database which you need to import in a sql file?

If so, you'll probably have found this issue (or even you are having the problem just now and you are reading this looking for a solution):

ERROR 2013 (HY000): Lost connection to MySQL server

This uses to happen when trying to import the dump with the mysql -u command:

mysql -u root -p database < databasetoimport.sql

You can try to play with the my.ini settings, but a best secure solution is just to do the import from the mysql own console. How? easy.

1. go to the place where your sql is. Then log in mysql:

mysql -uroot -p

2. create the database if needed:

create database mynewdb

3. Change to it:

use mynewdb;

4. and finally, import it:

source databasetoimport.sql

Wait and hopefully the problem will not appear again.

The reason is simple. Mysql is designed to have this behabiour of closing the connection dealing with external scripts, like php or the own mysql command. If you are executing the import from inside the console, the problem will not appear.