Restarting MySQL from XAMPP

The Apache Foundation provides an open source tool called XAMPP with modules that include the Apache webserver,PHP, MySQL, a file server called FileZilla and an email client named Mercury Mail. XAMPP comes with an all-in-one installer which can be downloaded either as an executible or zip file. Upon download and installation, all of these components can be started as services. For web and database development purposes, it is really nice to have a local webserver as opposed to numerous ftp's to a web host. It save alot of time.

However, I sometimes find that MySQL does not start through the XAMPP control panel GUI. One solution is to find the Windows batch files for uninstalling and installing MySQL as a service. These batch files are found in the directory C:\xampp\mysq. First right click on the uninstall batch file. A shell window appears and follow the prompts to uninstall MySQL as a service. Then right click on the install batch file and click through the prompts.

Go back to the XAMPP control service, click to start MySQL as a service and then click the Start button. That's all there is to it.