mysql configuration stops at “starting server”

Question

I was installing MySQL installer on my windows 8 machine. During the server configuration process, it gets stuck at \"starting server\" and doesn\'t move any further. The lo

Answer 1

This seems to be a chronic issue with MySQL Installer even now (v1.4.17.0). No matter what, every time I (re-)configure an instance on Windows 7 Pro or Server (2008 R2) it hangs at this point.

Simplest fix is:

1. When the installer hangs, open Windows Services and locate your mySQL service instance(s).
2. Double-click to open the/an instance and set Log on as: to Local System account and check Allow service to interact with desktop.
3. Optionally but preferably set the Recovery options to allow the service to resume after a problem.
4. Ensure that Startup type is set to Automatic (or whatever your preference is).
5. Click Apply and then click Start (or click OK and then start the service).
6. Return to the MySQL Installer and close any open warning about waiting for the process to complete and the process should continue.
7. Repeat as required for each MySQL Server instance.

Note: The installer seems to not enable the firewall exception that you may have selected when MySQL Server was first configured, so you may have to reconfigure again to open the firewall.

Side note: All-in-all, I'd have to say that after only two days of using the MySQL ecosystem, I'm less than impressed by how buggy things are. I would estimate that I had to set up two server interfaces about 6 times before everything worked as advertised. Workbench crashed on me 5+ times in the first day alone and I've had to traipse through any number of forums finding answers to stuff like this. Be prepared to do the same.