mysqld: Can't change dir to data. Server doesn't start

Question

I installed a MySQL server with installer and it started. After reboot I tried to start it again and get the error:

D:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\bin>mysqld -u root -p mysqld: Can't change dir to 'D:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\data\'     (Errcode: 2 - No such file or directory) 2015-11-17T08:30:18.822962Z 0 [Warning] TIMESTAMP with implicit DEFAULT     value is deprecated. Please use --explicit_defaults_for_timestamp server option     (see documentation for more details). 2015-11-17T08:30:18.822962Z 0 [Warning] Insecure configuration for --secure-    file    -priv: Current value does not restrict location of generated files.     Consider setting it to a valid, non-empty path. 2015-11-17T08:30:18.822962Z 0 [Note] mysqld (mysqld 5.7.9) starting as     process 1108 ... 2015-11-17T08:30:18.838586Z 0 [Warning] Can't create test file D:\Program     Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\data\DESKTOP-RNBR3E8.lower-test 2015-11-17T08:30:18.838586Z 0 [Warning] Can't create test file D:\Program     Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\data\DESKTOP-RNBR3E8.lower-test 2015-11-17T08:30:18.838586Z 0 [ERROR] failed to set datadir to D:\Program     Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\data\ 2015-11-17T08:30:18.838586Z 0 [ERROR] Aborting   2015-11-17T08:30:18.838586Z 0 [Note] Binlog end 2015-11-17T08:30:18.838586Z 0 [Note] mysqld: Shutdown complete 

I tried to reinstall MySQL.
UPDATE:
When I run mysqld -u root -p as administrator, nothing happens.

Answer 1

I have met same problem. In my case I had no ..\data dir in my C:\mysql\ so I just executed mysqld --initialize command from c:\mysql\bin\ directory and I got the data directory in c:\mysql\data. Afterwards I could use mysqld.exe --console command to test the server startup.

Answer 2

Since you used the Windows installer, everything is set up for you to run MySQL 5.7 as a Windows service, which is a great option in most cases.

Instead of running mysqld.exe from the command line,

1. Win + R
2. Run services.msc
3. Right-click on MySQL57
4. Start the service.