2.3.3.1. Introduction to the Installation Wizard
MySQL Installation Wizard is an installer for the MySQL server
that uses the latest installer technologies for Microsoft
Windows. The MySQL Installation Wizard, in combination with
the MySQL Configuration Wizard, allows a user to install and
configure a MySQL server that is ready for use immediately
after installation.
The MySQL Installation Wizard is the standard installer for
all MySQL server distributions, version 4.1.5 and higher.
Users of previous versions of MySQL need to shut down and
remove their existing MySQL installations manually before
installing MySQL with the MySQL Installation Wizard. See
Section 2.3.3.7, “Upgrading MySQL with the Installation Wizard”, for more
information on upgrading from a previous version.
Microsoft has included an improved version of their Microsoft
Windows Installer (MSI) in the recent versions of Windows. MSI
has become the de-facto standard for application installations
on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. The
MySQL Installation Wizard makes use of this technology to
provide a smoother and more flexible installation process.
The Microsoft Windows Installer Engine was updated with the
release of Windows XP; those using a previous version of
Windows can reference
this
Microsoft Knowledge Base article for information on
upgrading to the latest version of the Windows Installer
Engine.
In addition, Microsoft has introduced the WiX (Windows
Installer XML) toolkit recently. This is the first highly
acknowledged Open Source project from Microsoft. We have
switched to WiX because it is an Open Source project and it
allows us to handle the complete Windows installation process
in a flexible manner using scripts.
Improving the MySQL Installation Wizard depends on the support
and feedback of users like you. If you find that the MySQL
Installation Wizard is lacking some feature important to you,
or if you discover a bug, please report it in our bugs
database using the instructions given in
Section 1.8, “How to Report Bugs or Problems”.
