How to install mySQL 5.0.x on Windows

[neta]

This article explains how to install, configure and run mySQL 5.0.x under Microsoft Windows. Note! You might want to install Apache HTTP server first, and/or uninstall previous versions of mySQL.

1. Download and Unpack mySQL v5.0.x

Download and install the latest version of mySQL 5.0.x from MySQL AB :: MySQL 5.0 Downloads. Just make sure you get a Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP/2003 (x86) binary, Windows Essentials (x86) version (skip all the questions part and scroll down to the mirrors list).

My file was named: mysql-essential-5.0.16-win32.msi

2. Install mySQL v5.0.x

Run the MSI file and use the following settings

* Typical Setup
* Skip Sign-Up
* make sure "Configure the mySQL Server now" is checked
* "Detailed Configuration"
* "Developer Machine"
* "Multifunctional Database"
* "InnoDB Tablespace Settings" - leave everything default
* "Decision Support (DSS)/OLAP"
* make sure "Enable TCP/IP Networking" is checked and leave the port number at 3306 (at this point, if you have a firewall, it will usually try to access itself on the localhost)
* "Standard Character Set"
* check "Install As Windows Service"
* I recommend leaving "Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH" checked
* enter your root password
* then hit "execute" and it´ll install and set it up

3. Getting PHP5 to work with mySQL

Unfortunately PHP5 removed built-in support for mySQL. So you´ll need to copy some files by hand. open the folder you unzipped your PHP to. Copy the libmysql.dll file (should be located like c:\php5\libmysql.dll ) into your Window´s System folder (usually C:\Windows\System32\ although might be c:\WinNT\System\ or something).

Then open up your php.ini in a text editor and search for ;extension=php_mysql.dll and remove the ; in front of that line.

Do the same for ;extension=php_mbstring.dll. Without the mbstring extension phpMyAdmin is unable to split strings correctly and it may result in unexpected results.

Restart Apache and see if you get any errors. If it complains about php_mysql.dll either your extention directory isn´t correct or windows can´t find libmysql.dll

If you don´t want to move files outside your php5 directory, you may also add the php5 directory to the PATH on Windows. Please read the following article on how to do this.

4. Testing mySQL

Testing mySQL is not exactly easy. However, here are the common connection strings for PHP and CGI. I recommend downloading phpMyAdmin and using it to create and manage your databases, etc.

[countryboy]

very good tutorial....helpful for the beginners

[roogy30]

nice tutorial for beginners