Download, extract and install the suitable MySQL executable for your server platform and operating system from the MySQL download section for MySQL Database Server 5.1. Be sure to use a 32-bit or 64-bit version as appropriate for your hardware and Windows version.

Make sure the MySQL server is not running. You do a “slow” shutdown by issuing the following command before performing the shutdown:

SET GLOBAL innodb_fast_shutdown=0;

Then finish the shutdown process, as described in The Shutdown Process in the MySQL documentation. This option setting performs a full purge and an insert buffer merge before the shutdown, which can typically take minutes, or even hours for very large and busy databases.

The InnoDB Plugin shared library is already installed in the directory lib\plugin as part of the MySQL installation.

Edit the option file (my.ini) to ignore the builtin InnoDB, and load the InnoDB Plugin and all Information Schema tables implemented in the InnoDB Plugin when the server starts:

ignore_builtin_innodb
plugin-load=innodb=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;innodb_trx=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;
  innodb_locks=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;innodb_lock_waits=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;
  innodb_cmp=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;innodb_cmp_reset=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;
  innodb_cmpmem=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;innodb_cmpmem_reset=ha_innodb_plugin.dll

Alternatively, you can use the equivalent options on the MySQL command line:

mysqld --ignore-builtin-innodb --plugin-load=
  innodb=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;
  innodb_trx=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;innodb_locks=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;
  innodb_lock_waits=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;innodb_cmp=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;
  innodb_cmp_reset=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;innodb_cmpmem=ha_innodb_plugin.dll;
  innodb_cmpmem_reset=ha_innodb_plugin.dll

You can also install the InnoDB Plugin and the new InnoDB Information Schema tables implemented in ha_innodb_plugin.so with INSTALL commands, as follows:

INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';
INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB_TRX SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';
INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB_LOCKS SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';
INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB_LOCK_WAITS SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';
INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB_CMP SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';
INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB_CMP_RESET SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';
INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB_CMPMEM SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';
INSTALL PLUGIN INNODB_CMPMEM_RESET SONAME 'ha_innodb_plugin.dll';

If you use INSTALL PLUGIN statements to install the InnoDB Plugin and the Information Schema tables, ensure the following conditions are set up:

See the MySQL Manual section on INSTALL PLUGIN Syntax for information on how these commands work.

Edit the option file my.ini to use InnoDB as the default engine (if desired) and set appropriate configuration parameters to enable use of new InnoDB Plugin features, as described in Section 9.5, “Configuring the InnoDB Plugin”. In particular, we recommend that you set the following specific parameters as follows:

default-storage-engine=InnoDB
innodb_file_per_table=1
innodb_file_format=barracuda
innodb_strict_mode=1

IMPORTANT: The MySQL server always must be started with the option ignore_builtin_innodb, as long as you want to use the dynamic InnoDB Plugin. Also, remember that the startup option skip_grant_tables prevents MySQL from loading any plugins.

Verify the installation of the plugins with the MySQL command SHOW PLUGINS, which should produce the following output:

If the plugins fail to load properly, see Section 9.3.3, “Errors When Installing the InnoDB Plugin on Microsoft Windows” for possible causes and corrections.

After verifying that the Plugin is recognized by MySQL, create an InnoDB table as another confirmation of success.