Installing MySQL

Before writing any SQL you need a running MySQL server. This lesson walks through installing MySQL on the three major platforms and confirms the installation is working.

Installing on macOS

The easiest route on macOS is Homebrew:

brew update
brew install mysql

After installation, start the server and enable it on login:

brew services start mysql

MySQL on macOS via Homebrew starts with no root password. Connect immediately with:

mysql -u root

Run the included security script to set a root password and remove test accounts:

mysql_secure_installation

Installing on Ubuntu / Debian Linux

On Ubuntu 22.04 and later, MySQL 8 is available directly from the default repositories:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install mysql-server
sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl enable mysql

The installer sets up a unix_socket authentication plugin for the root account. Connect as root without a password using:

sudo mysql

Then run mysql_secure_installation to harden the installation.

Installing on Windows

Download the MySQL Installer from the official MySQL website. Run the installer and choose the Developer Default or Server Only setup type. The wizard guides you through choosing a root password, configuring the Windows service, and optionally installing MySQL Workbench and MySQL Shell.

After installation, open MySQL Shell or the mysql command prompt from the Start menu.

Verifying the Installation

Connect to the server and check the version:

SELECT VERSION();

List the default databases:

SHOW DATABASES;

You should see information_schema, mysql, performance_schema, and sys. These are internal system databases — do not modify them directly.

Creating a Development Database and User

It is best practice to avoid using the root account for application work. Create a dedicated database and user:

CREATE DATABASE myapp CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'devuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword1!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myapp.* TO 'devuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Connect as the new user:

mysql -u devuser -p myapp

With MySQL installed, a database created, and a user configured, you are ready to start building tables.