I have already seen http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/mysql-config-wizard-file-location.html

how to know mysql my.cnf location

and

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/option-files.html

But I am still stuck with the ages old question! "Where is my my.ini" I am using windows server 2008 with mysql 5.5.28. I installed the service using mysqld --install and I am able to use the mysql server using sqlyog. But unfortunately I am not able to find my.ini in installation directory or not in c:\ neither in c:\windows nor in data_dir query show variables like "mysql_home" returned nothing as well.

What suggestion would you have?

Best Answer

my.ini LOCATION ON WINDOWS MYSQL 5.6 MSI (USING THE INSTALL WIZARD)

Open a Windows command shell and type: echo %PROGRAMDATA% . On Windows Vista this results in: C:\ProgramData .

According to http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/option-files.html , the first location MySQL will look under is in %PROGRAMDATA%\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.ini . In your Windows shell if you do ls "%PROGRAMDATA%\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.ini" , you will see that the file is there.

Unlike most suggestions you will find in Stackoverflow and around the web, putting the file in C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.ini WILL NOT WORK. Neither will C:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1. The reason being quoted on the MySQL link posted above.

On Windows, MySQL programs read startup options from the following files, in the specified order (top items are used first).

The 5.6 MSI installer does create a my.ini in the highest priority location, meaning no other file will ever be found/used, except for the one created by the installer.

The solution accepted above will not work for 5.6 MSI-based installs.