I’m running a Dell PowerEdge R320 with Windows Server 2025 and having trouble getting MySQL to work properly. Every time I try installing MySQL and check the option to run it as a Windows service, the installation completes but the service won’t start up. I can get MySQL working if I don’t enable the service option, but then I can’t connect to the database from other machines on my network. This is for my home lab setup and I’m pretty new to server administration. Does anyone know why the MySQL service might be failing to start, or is there another way to allow remote database connections without running it as a service?
To resolve issues with the MySQL service not starting, check the Windows Event Viewer for any error messages related to MySQL, particularly in the System and Application logs. It’s common for MySQL to fail if port 3306 is already in use or if it lacks permission to access the data directory. You can identify port usage by executing netstat -ano | findstr :3306 in the command prompt. If port 3306 is occupied, you’ll need to free it up or configure MySQL to use a different port. Additionally, ensure that you are running the MySQL installer with administrative privileges and that the service is set to run under the Local System account. After the service is operational, enable remote connections by modifying my.ini to bind to your server’s IP instead of localhost and create user accounts that permit remote access.