5.4.5 Starting the Server for the First Time

This section gives a general overview of starting the MySQL server. The following sections provide more specific information for starting the MySQL server from the command line or as a Windows service.

The information here applies primarily if you installed MySQL using the noinstall version, or if you wish to configure and test MySQL manually rather than with the MySQL Installer.

The examples in these sections assume that MySQL is installed under the default location of C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0. Adjust the path names shown in the examples if you have MySQL installed in a different location.

Clients have two options. They can use TCP/IP, or they can use a named pipe if the server supports named-pipe connections.

MySQL for Windows also supports shared-memory connections if the server is started with the shared_memory system variable enabled. Clients can connect through shared memory by using the --protocol=MEMORY option.

For information about which server binary to run, see Section 5.4.3, “Selecting a MySQL Server Type”.

Testing is best done from a command prompt in a console window (or “DOS window”). In this way you can have the server display status messages in the window where they are easy to see. If something is wrong with your configuration, these messages make it easier for you to identify and fix any problems.

Note

The database must be initialized before MySQL can be started. For additional information about the initialization process, see Section 9.1, “Initializing the Data Directory”.

To start the server, enter this command:

C:\> "C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin\mysqld" --console

You should see messages similar to those following as it starts (the path names and sizes may differ). The ready for connections messages indicate that the server is ready to service client connections.

[Server] C:\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe (mysqld 8.0.30) starting as process 21236
[InnoDB] InnoDB initialization has started.
[InnoDB] InnoDB initialization has ended.
[Server] CA certificate ca.pem is self signed.
[Server] Channel mysql_main configured to support TLS. 
Encrypted connections are now supported for this channel.
[Server] X Plugin ready for connections. Bind-address: '::' port: 33060
[Server] C:\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe: ready for connections. 
Version: '8.0.30'  socket: ''  port: 3306  MySQL Community Server - GPL.

You can now open a new console window in which to run client programs.

If you omit the --console option, the server writes diagnostic output to the error log in the data directory (C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\data by default). The error log is the file with the .err extension, and may be set using the --log-error option.

Note

The initial root account in the MySQL grant tables has no password. After starting the server, you should set up a password for it using the instructions in Section 9.4, “Securing the Initial MySQL Account”.