MySQL Workbench Manual  /  Installation  /  System Requirements

2.1 System Requirements

MySQL Workbench is available on a number of operating systems and platforms. For information about those platforms that are officially supported, see https://www.mysql.com/support/supportedplatforms/workbench.html on the MySQL website.

General Requirements

General requirements and considerations that apply to all operating systems.

  • MySQL server: Although it is not required, MySQL Workbench is designed to have either a remote or local MySQL server connection. For additional information about connecting to a MySQL server, see Chapter 5, Connections in MySQL Workbench. For additional information about installing a MySQL server, see Installing MySQL.

    Data modeling does not require a MySQL server connection.

    Some features take advantage of MySQL server features, and as such, they require more recent versions of MySQL Server. For example, the Performance Dashboard requires MySQL Server 5.6 or higher.

  • Simultaneous client connections: Opening a MySQL connection from the MySQL Workbench home page opens a new connection tab in MySQL Workbench for that connection. Each of these tabs requires two MySQL connections to perform basic tasks, such as schema discovery and SQL execution. Additionally, performing management related tasks, such as Server Status, requires two additional MySQL connections. Essentially, this means that each MySQL connection tab in MySQL Workbench requires four available connections to MySQL. For additional information about "Too many connections" related errors, see Too many connections.

    This connection requirement doubles with each connection tab opened in MySQL Workbench, even if the two connection tabs point to the same MySQL server. SQL editor tabs share their connections, so having multiple SQL editor and SQL results tabs does not affect the number of required connections.

Note

On startup, the application checks the OpenGL version and chooses between software and hardware rendering. To determine which rendering method is being used, open the Help menu and choose the System Info item.

Requirements for Linux

  • The requirements for Linux are embedded within their respective packages. Use the platform specific tool (for example, yum or apt) to install the package and their dependencies.

  • The Save password in vault functionality requires gnome-keyring-daemon to store the passwords. Note that KDE systems use their own ksecretservice implementation.

  • For Linux and macOS, the MySQL server administration features require sudo command privileges to execute several commands. The sudo user must be capable of executing the following system commands:

    /usr/bin/sudo
    /usr/bin/nohup
    /usr/bin/uptime
    /usr/bin/which
    /usr/bin/stat
    
    /bin/bash
    /bin/mkdir
    /bin/rm
    /bin/rmdir
    /bin/dd
    /bin/cp
    /bin/ls

    Additionally, the sudo user must keep the HOME environment variable when executing system commands, which means adding the following entry to the /etc/sudoers file safely by using the visudo command:

    Defaults env_keep +="HOME"

    For MySQL Workbench to execute MySQL Enterprise Backup commands, the sudo command user must also be able to execute the MySQL Enterprise Backup binary.

Requirements for Windows

The following prerequisites are available at the Microsoft Download Center:

  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2

  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable

  • Microsoft Windows 11 or Windows Server 2022