MySQL and Windows  /  Installing MySQL on Microsoft Windows  /  Choosing an Installation Package

1.2 Choosing an Installation Package

For MySQL 8.0, there are multiple installation package formats to choose from when installing MySQL on Windows. The package formats described in this section are:

Program Database (PDB) files (with file name extension pdb) provide information for debugging your MySQL installation in the event of a problem. These files are included in ZIP Archive distributions (but not MSI distributions) of MySQL.

MySQL Installer

This package has a file name similar to mysql-installer-community-8.0.39.0.msi or mysql-installer-commercial-8.0.39.0.msi, and utilizes MSIs to install MySQL server and other products automatically. MySQL Installer downloads and applies updates to itself, and to each of the installed products. It also configures the installed MySQL server (including a sandbox InnoDB cluster test setup) and MySQL Router. MySQL Installer is recommended for most users.

MySQL Installer can install and manage (add, modify, upgrade, and remove) many other MySQL products, including:

  • Applications – MySQL Workbench, MySQL for Visual Studio, MySQL Shell, and MySQL Router (see https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-compat-matrix/en/)

  • Connectors – MySQL Connector/C++, MySQL Connector/NET, Connector/ODBC, MySQL Connector/Python, MySQL Connector/J, MySQL Connector/Node.js

  • Documentation – MySQL Manual (PDF format), samples and examples

MySQL Installer operates on all MySQL supported versions of Windows (see https://www.mysql.com/support/supportedplatforms/database.html).

Note

Because MySQL Installer is not a native component of Microsoft Windows and depends on .NET, it does not work with minimal installation options like the Server Core version of Windows Server.

For instructions on how to install MySQL using MySQL Installer, see Section 1.3, “MySQL Installer for Windows”.

MySQL noinstall ZIP Archives

These packages contain the files found in the complete MySQL Server installation package, with the exception of the GUI. This format does not include an automated installer, and must be manually installed and configured.

The noinstall ZIP archives are split into two separate compressed files. The main package is named mysql-VERSION-winx64.zip. This contains the components needed to use MySQL on your system. The optional MySQL test suite, MySQL benchmark suite, and debugging binaries/information components (including PDB files) are in a separate compressed file named mysql-VERSION-winx64-debug-test.zip.

If you choose to install a noinstall ZIP archive, see Section 1.4, “Installing MySQL on Microsoft Windows Using a noinstall ZIP Archive”.

MySQL Docker Images

For information on using the MySQL Docker images provided by Oracle on Windows platform, see Deploying MySQL on Windows and Other Non-Linux Platforms with Docker.

Warning

The MySQL Docker images provided by Oracle are built specifically for Linux platforms. Other platforms are not supported, and users running the MySQL Docker images from Oracle on them are doing so at their own risk.