On Windows, the data directory and the grant tables do not have to be created. MySQL Windows distributions include the grant tables with a set of preinitialized accounts in the mysql database under the data directory. It is unnecessary to run the mysql_install_db script that is used on Unix. Regarding passwords, if you installed MySQL using the Windows Installation Wizard, you may have already assigned passwords to the accounts. (See Using the MySQL Installation Wizard.) Otherwise, use the password-assignment procedure given in Section 2.3, “Securing the Initial MySQL Accounts”.

Before setting up passwords, you might want to try running some client programs to make sure that you can connect to the server and that it is operating properly. Make sure that the server is running (see Starting the Server for the First Time), and then issue the following commands to verify that you can retrieve information from the server. The output should be similar to what is shown here:

C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow
+--------------------+
|     Databases      |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql              |
| test               |
+--------------------+
C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow mysql
Database: mysql
+---------------------------+
|          Tables           |
+---------------------------+
| columns_priv              |
| db                        |
| event                     |
| func                      |
| general_log               |
| help_category             |
| help_keyword              |
| help_relation             |
| help_topic                |
| host                      |
| plugin                    |
| proc                      |
| procs_priv                |
| servers                   |
| slow_log                  |
| tables_priv               |
| time_zone                 |
| time_zone_leap_second     |
| time_zone_name            |
| time_zone_transition      |
| time_zone_transition_type |
| user                      |
+---------------------------+
C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysql -e "SELECT Host,Db,User FROM db" mysql
+------+-------+------+
| host | db    | user |
+------+-------+------+
| %    | test% |      |
+------+-------+------+

You may need to specify a different directory from the one shown; if you used the Windows Installation Wizard, then the default directory is C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1, and the mysql and mysqlshow client programs are in C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1\bin. See Using the MySQL Installation Wizard, for more information.

If you have already secured the initial MySQL accounts, you may need to use the -u and -p options to supply a user name and password to the mysqlshow and mysql client programs; otherwise the programs may fail with an error, or you may not be able to view all databases. For example, if you have assigned the password “secretpass” to the MySQL root account, then you can invoke mysqlshow and mysql as shown here:

C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow -uroot -psecretpass
+--------------------+
|     Databases      |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql              |
| test               |
+--------------------+
C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow -uroot -psecretpass mysql
Database: mysql
+---------------------------+
|          Tables           |
+---------------------------+
| columns_priv              |
| db                        |
| event                     |
| func                      |
| general_log               |
| help_category             |
| help_keyword              |
| help_relation             |
| help_topic                |
| host                      |
| plugin                    |
| proc                      |
| procs_priv                |
| servers                   |
| slow_log                  |
| tables_priv               |
| time_zone                 |
| time_zone_leap_second     |
| time_zone_name            |
| time_zone_transition      |
| time_zone_transition_type |
| user                      |
+---------------------------+
C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysql -uroot -psecretpass -e "SELECT Host,Db,User FROM db" mysql
+------+-------+------+
| host | db    | user |
+------+-------+------+
| %    | test% |      |
+------+-------+------+

For more information about these programs, see mysqlshow, and mysql.

If you are running a version of Windows that supports services and you want the MySQL server to run automatically when Windows starts, see Starting MySQL as a Windows Service.