Windows Platform Restrictions +------+-----------+-----------------------+ | User | Host | plugin | +------+-----------+-----------------------+ | root | localhost | caching_sha2_password | +------+-----------+-----------------------+ For more information about  mysql  and  mysqlshow , see Section 4.5.1, “mysql — The MySQL Command- Line Client” , and Section 4.5.7, “mysqlshow — Display Database, Table, and Column Information” . The following restrictions apply to use of MySQL on the Windows platform: On Windows 32-bit platforms, it is not possible by default to use more than 2GB of RAM within a single process, including MySQL. This is because the physical address limit on Windows 32-bit is 4GB and the default setting within Windows is to split the virtual address space between kernel (2GB) and user/ applications (2GB). Some versions of Windows have a boot time setting to enable larger applications by reducing the kernel application. Alternatively, to use more than 2GB, use a 64-bit version of Windows. When using  MyISAM  tables, you cannot use aliases within Windows link to the data files on another volume and then link back to the main MySQL  datadir  location. This facility is often used to move the data and index files to a RAID or other fast solution. Windows systems have about 4,000 ports available for client connections, and after a connection on a port closes, it takes two to four minutes before the port can be reused. In situations where clients connect to and disconnect from the server at a high rate, it is possible for all available ports to be used up before closed ports become available again. If this happens, the MySQL server appears to be unresponsive even though it is running. Ports may be used by other applications running on the machine as well, in which case the number of ports available to MySQL is lower. For more information about this problem, see https://support.microsoft.com/kb/196271. The  DATA DIRECTORY  clause of the  CREATE TABLE  statement is supported on Windows for  InnoDB tables only, as described in Section 15.6.1.2, “Creating Tables Externally” . For  MyISAM  and other storage engines, the  DATA DIRECTORY  and  INDEX DIRECTORY  clauses for  CREATE TABLE  are ignored on Windows and any other platforms with a nonfunctional  realpath()  call. You cannot drop a database that is in use by another session. File names are not case-sensitive on Windows, so MySQL database and table names are also not case- sensitive on Windows. The only restriction is that database and table names must be specified using the same case throughout a given statement. See Section 9.2.3, “Identifier Case Sensitivity” . 155 • Directory and file names • Case-insensitive names • DROP DATABASE • DATA DIRECTORY  and  INDEX DIRECTORY • Limited number of ports • File system aliases • Process memory 2.3.7 Windows Platform Restrictions