Create a work directory (for example, C:\workdir).

Unpack the source distribution in the aforementioned directory using WinZip or other Windows tool that can read .zip files.

Start Visual Studio .Net 2003 (7.1).

From the File menu, select Open Solution....

Open the mysql.sln solution you find in the work directory.

From the Build menu, select Configuration Manager....

In the Active Solution Configuration pop-up menu, select the configuration to use. You likely want to use one of nt (normal server, not for Windows 98/ME), Max nt (more engines and features, not for 98/ME) or Debug configuration.

From the Build menu, select Build Solution.

Debug versions of the programs and libraries are placed in the client_debug and lib_debug directories. Release versions of the programs and libraries are placed in the client_release and lib_release directories.

Test the server. The server built using the preceding instructions expects that the MySQL base directory and data directory are C:\mysql and C:\mysql\data by default. If you want to test your server using the source tree root directory and its data directory as the base directory and data directory, you need to tell the server their path names. You can either do this on the command line with the --basedir and --datadir options, or by placing appropriate options in an option file. (See Section 4.2.3.3, “Using Option Files”.) If you have an existing data directory elsewhere that you want to use, you can specify its path name instead.

Start your server from the client_release or client_debug directory, depending on which server you built or want to use. The general server startup instructions are in Section 2.3, “Installing MySQL on Windows”. You must adapt the instructions appropriately if you want to use a different base directory or data directory.

When the server is running in standalone fashion or as a service based on your configuration, try to connect to it from the mysql interactive command-line utility that exists in your client_release or client_debug directory.

Create the directories where you want to install MySQL. For example, to install into C:\mysql, use these commands:

shell> mkdir C:\mysql
shell> mkdir C:\mysql\bin
shell> mkdir C:\mysql\data
shell> mkdir C:\mysql\share
shell> mkdir C:\mysql\scripts

If you want to compile other clients and link them to MySQL, you should also create several additional directories:

shell> mkdir C:\mysql\include
shell> mkdir C:\mysql\lib
shell> mkdir C:\mysql\lib\debug
shell> mkdir C:\mysql\lib\opt

If you want to benchmark MySQL, create this directory:

shell> mkdir C:\mysql\sql-bench

Benchmarking requires Perl support. See Section 2.14, “Perl Installation Notes”.

From the workdir directory, copy into the C:\mysql directory the following directories:

shell> cd \workdir
C:\workdir> copy client_release\*.exe C:\mysql\bin
C:\workdir> copy client_debug\mysqld.exe C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-debug.exe
C:\workdir> xcopy scripts\*.* C:\mysql\scripts /E
C:\workdir> xcopy share\*.* C:\mysql\share /E

If you want to compile other clients and link them to MySQL, you should also copy several libraries and header files:

C:\workdir> copy lib_debug\mysqlclient.lib C:\mysql\lib\debug
C:\workdir> copy lib_debug\libmysql.* C:\mysql\lib\debug
C:\workdir> copy lib_debug\zlib.* C:\mysql\lib\debug
C:\workdir> copy lib_release\mysqlclient.lib C:\mysql\lib\opt
C:\workdir> copy lib_release\libmysql.* C:\mysql\lib\opt
C:\workdir> copy lib_release\zlib.* C:\mysql\lib\opt
C:\workdir> copy include\*.h C:\mysql\include
C:\workdir> copy libmysql\libmysql.def C:\mysql\include

If you want to benchmark MySQL, you should also do this:

C:\workdir> xcopy sql-bench\*.* C:\mysql\bench /E