2.3.3. Installing MySQL on Microsoft Windows Using MySQL Installer

2.3.3.1. MySQL Installer GUI
2.3.3.2. MySQL Installer Console

MySQL Installer is an application that simplifies the installation and updating process for a wide range of MySQL products, including MySQL Notifier for Microsoft Windows, MySQL Workbench, and MySQL for Excel. From this central application, you can see which MySQL products are already installed, configure them, and update or remove them if necessary. The installer can also install plugins, documentation, tutorials, and example databases. The MySQL Installer is only available for Microsoft Windows, and includes both a GUI and command-line interface.

Installer package types

Full: Bundles all of the MySQL products (including MySQL Server). The file is over 160MB, and have names of the form mysql-installer-community-VERSION.N.msi where VERSION is the MySQL Server version number such as 5.6 and N is the package number, which begins at 0.
Web: Only contains the Installer and configuration files, and it only downloads the MySQL products you choose to install. The file is about 2MB, and have names of the form mysql-installer-community-web-VERSION.N.msi where VERSION is the MySQL Server version number such as 5.6 and N is the package number, which begins at 0.

Installer editions

Community edition: Downloadable at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/installer/. It installs the community edition of all MySQL products.
Commercial edition: Downloadable at either My Oracle Support (MOS) or https://edelivery.oracle.com/. It installs the commercial version of all MySQL products, including Workbench SE. It also integrates with your MOS account, so enter in your MOS credentials to automatically receive updates for your commercial MySQL products.

For release notes detailing the changes in each release of MySQL Installer, see MySQL Installer Release Notes.

MySQL Installer is compatible with pre-existing installations, and adds them to its list of installed components. And while the MySQL Installer is bundled with a specific version of MySQL Server, a single MySQL Installer instance can install and manage multiple MySQL Server versions. For example, a single MySQL Installer instance can install versions 5.1, 5.5, and 5.6. It can also manage either commercial or community editions of the MySQL Server.

Note

A single host can not have both community and commercial editions of MySQL Server installed. For example, if you want both MySQL Server 5.5 and 5.6 installed on a single host, then both must be the same commercial or community edition.

MySQL Installer handles the initial configuration and setup of the applications. For example:

It will create MySQL Server connections in MySQL Workbench.
It creates the configuration file (my.ini) that is used to configure the MySQL Server. The values written to this file are influenced by choices you make during the installation process.
It imports example databases.
It creates MySQL Server user accounts with configurable permissions based on general roles, such as DB Administrator, DB Designer, and Backup Admin. It optionally creates a Windows user named MysqlSys with limited privileges, which would then run the MySQL Server.

This feature is only available during the initial installation of the MySQL Server, and not during future updates. User accounts may also be added with MySQL Workbench.
If the "Advanced Configuration" option is checked, then the Logging Options are also configured. This includes defining file paths for the error log, general log, slow query log (including the configuration of seconds it requires to execute a query), and the binary log.

MySQL Installer can optionally check for updated components and download them for you automatically.