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2.3.1 Choosing An Installation Package »
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2.3. Installing MySQL on Windows

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2.3.1. Choosing An Installation Package
2.3.2. Installing MySQL with the Automated Installer
2.3.3. Using the MySQL Installation Wizard
2.3.4. Using the Configuration Wizard
2.3.5. Installing MySQL from a Noinstall Zip Archive
2.3.6. Extracting the Install Archive
2.3.7. Creating an Option File
2.3.8. Selecting a MySQL Server Type
2.3.9. Starting the Server for the First Time
2.3.10. Starting MySQL from the Windows Command Line
2.3.11. Starting MySQL as a Windows Service
2.3.12. Testing The MySQL Installation
2.3.13. Troubleshooting a MySQL Installation Under Windows
2.3.14. Upgrading MySQL on Windows
2.3.15. MySQL on Windows Compared to MySQL on Unix

A native Windows distribution of MySQL has been available since version 3.21 and represents a sizable percentage of the daily downloads of MySQL. This section describes the process for installing MySQL on Windows.

MySQL 4.1.5 introduced a new installer for the Windows version of MySQL, combined with a new GUI Configuration Wizard. This combination automatically installs MySQL, creates an option file, starts the server, and secures the default user accounts.

Note

If you are upgrading MySQL from an existing installation older than MySQL 4.1.5, you must first perform the procedure described in Section 2.3.14, “Upgrading MySQL on Windows”.

To run MySQL on Windows, you need the following:

  • A 32-bit Windows operating system such as 9x, Me, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, or Windows Server 2003.

    A Windows NT-based operating system (NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 2003) permits you to run the MySQL server as a service. The use of a Windows NT-based operating system is strongly recommended. See Section 2.3.11, “Starting MySQL as a Windows Service”.

    Generally, you should install MySQL on Windows using an account that has administrator rights. Otherwise, you may encounter problems with certain operations such as editing the PATH environment variable or accessing the Service Control Manager.

  • TCP/IP protocol support.

  • Enough space on the hard drive to unpack, install, and create the databases in accordance with your requirements (generally a minimum of 200 megabytes is recommended.)

For a list of limitations within the Windows version of MySQL, see Section C.3.3, “Windows Platform Limitations”.

There may also be other requirements, depending on how you plan to use MySQL:

MySQL for Windows is available in several distribution formats:

  • Binary distributions are available that contain a setup program that installs everything you need so that you can start the server immediately. Another binary distribution format contains an archive that you simply unpack in the installation location and then configure yourself. For details, see Section 2.3.1, “Choosing An Installation Package”.

  • The source distribution contains all the code and support files for building the executables using the Visual Studio 7.1 compiler system.

Generally speaking, you should use a binary distribution that includes an installer. It is simpler to use than the others, and you need no additional tools to get MySQL up and running. The installer for the Windows version of MySQL, combined with a GUI Configuration Wizard, automatically installs MySQL, creates an option file, starts the server, and secures the default user accounts.

The following section describes how to install MySQL on Windows using a binary distribution. To use an installation package that does not include an installer, follow the procedure described in Section 2.3.5, “Installing MySQL from a Noinstall Zip Archive”. To install using a source distribution, see Section 2.9.6, “Installing MySQL from Source on Windows”.

MySQL distributions for Windows can be downloaded from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/. See Section 2.1.3, “How to Get MySQL”.


User Comments

Posted by Daniel Convissor on January 28 2009 10:29pm[Delete] [Edit]

You may appreciate the step-by-step instructions of "MySQL Basics -- A Helpful MySQL Tutorial" at http://www.analysisandsolutions.com/code/mysql-tutorial.htm

Posted by Diego Carlton on March 12 2009 3:38pm[Delete] [Edit]

For Windows Vista, you will want to do the following BEFORE running the MSI installer to avoid problems starting MySQL service:
1- Disable the User Account Control
1a- Go to Control Panel\User Accounts and Family Safety\User Accounts
1b- Go to Turn User Account Control On or Off
1c- Uncheck option to use UAC
2- Add port exception to both windows firewall and any third party security suite firewall (like McAffee SecurityCenter)
2a- Go to Control Panel
2b- Click Allow a program through Windows Firewall

For Vista, MySQL Server Instance Wizard may halt before applying security settings claiming service failed to start. However, this is probably a bug with the wizard.
1- Cancel Wizard and Confirm service as started
1a- Go to Start, right-click Computer, Select Manage
1b- Go to Services and verify MySQL service status
2- Use MySQL Administrator to remove guest account and change root password from blank to strong password.

NOTE: For Vista, C:\ProgramData is a special folder which is hidden by default. To access the err file you must type path directly to address bar at top of explorer window to list folder contents - C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1\data

Hope this helps other newbies.

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