Installing MySQL on Microsoft Windows Using a  noinstall  ZIP Archive This command invokes the MySQL administrative utility  mysqladmin  to connect to the server and tell it to shut down. The command connects as the MySQL  root  user, which is the default administrative account in the MySQL grant system. Users in the MySQL grant system are wholly independent from any operating system users under Microsoft Windows. If  mysqld  doesn’t start, check the error log to see whether the server wrote any messages there to indicate the cause of the problem. By default, the error log is located in the  C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\data  directory. It is the file with a suffix of  .err , or may be specified by passing in the  -- log-error  option. Alternatively, you can try to start the server with the  --console  option; in this case, the server may display some useful information on the screen to help solve the problem. The last option is to start  mysqld  with the  --standalone  and  --debug  options. In this case,  mysqld writes a log file  C:\mysqld.trace  that should contain the reason why  mysqld  doesn’t start. See Section 5.9.4, “The DBUG Package” . Use  mysqld --verbose --help  to display all the options that  mysqld  supports. Note Note You should not add the MySQL  bin  directory to your Windows  PATH  if you are running multiple MySQL servers on the same machine. 147 Dismiss this dialogue, and each dialogue in turn, by clicking  OK  until all of the dialogues that were opened have been dismissed. The new  PATH  value should now be available to any new command shell you open, allowing you to invoke any MySQL executable program by typing its name at the DOS prompt from any directory on the system, without having to supply the path. This includes the servers, the  mysql  client, and all MySQL command-line utilities such as  mysqladmin  and  mysqldump . There must be a semicolon separating this path from any values present in this field. •Place your cursor at the end of the text appearing in the space marked  Variable Value . (Use the  End key to ensure that your cursor is positioned at the very end of the text in this space.) Then enter the complete path name of your MySQL  bin  directory (for example,  C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin ) •Under  System Variables , select  Path , and then click the  Edit  button. The  Edit System Variable dialogue should appear. •Next select the  Advanced  tab from the  System Properties  menu that appears, and click the Environment Variables  button. •On the Windows desktop, right-click the  My Computer  icon, and select  Properties . 2.3.4.7 Customizing the PATH for MySQL Tools Warning You must exercise great care when editing your system  PATH  by hand; accidental deletion or modification of any portion of the existing  PATH  value can leave you with a malfunctioning or even unusable system. To make it easier to invoke MySQL programs, you can add the path name of the MySQL  bin  directory to your Windows system  PATH  environment variable: