Installing MySQL
Setting up MySQL on your Windows ME PC should not be confusing if you just select all the default options just before the install runs.
To be certain I got MySQL up and running in the beginning, I even set it up at the default path i.e.
path: C:\mysql
Of course you can set it up anywhere else on your HDD but then you will have to configure some other file for it to work, so I will leave that up to you to experiment once you've played around with it a little bit more.
Download MySQL for Win32 here.
Once the >11MB file download is complete, unzip it to a temp folder / directory somewhere on your HDD. e.g. I used
path: C:\TMP
Next run the unzipped setup.exe and this will install MySQL just like any other software on your machine.
Once MySQL has completed installing itself, you will now have to concern yourself with learning how to set up users, databases, tables etc.
In the early days of my experience with MySQL, I ACTUALLY read up a lot on the included documentation and help files. Using the Windows DOS prompt, I even managed to add users and set (GRANT) permissions... but that was, like I said, in the past! Now, I use PhpMyAdmin to do all that and it's SO simple - a no brainer, even!
PhpMyAdmin is a little script (in PHP and MySQL itself) that will allow you to 'manage' your MySQL database easily.
Next, we'll setup 2 icons (buttons) on your Desktop that will effectively "Start" and "Stop" MySQL when you're ready to use it together with Apache Web Server, PHP and Perl.
