authentication_string in mysql.user table running MariaDB 10.1 and MariaDB 10.2

I am in the process of recovering a server meltdown (I lost a SSD and was set back to 06/2017.)

I found that HeidiSQL prompted me with "This user has an empty password." -- this for all users.

I checked for the authentication_string on my systems and found that both systems (I have two separate computer systems setup with MariaDB) are missing the authentication_string field in mysql.user table.

One system is a fresh install with MariaDB 10.2, the other is the server that is running MariaDB 10.1. So I checked for a HeidiSQL version update, and sure enough there was an update to download. I installing version 9.5.0.5237 (the latest build) and somehow, by doing the install it added the authentication_string field to the mysql.user tables. But "This user has an empty password." is still there. Even after a MySQL service restart.

Any suggestions on how to best fix this is greatly appreciated. Thank you.