Unable to restart mysql after changing the datadir

Question

I am unable to restart the server after changing the default datadir from C:/ProgramData/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.7\Data to D:/Data.

• I changed datadir to datadir="D:/Data"
• Then I stopped mysql
• Copied the Data directory to D:/
• Attempted to restart the server
• Unable to start

What could be the reason for it?

Error snapshot:

However, it works fine if the original datadir path is restored.

Answer 1

Assign full permissions to the NETWORK SERVICE for D:/Data

Answer 2

Ensure my.ini is ANSI encoded with a tool like Notepad++.

I updated the datadir in my.ini with Windows Notepad and it apparently converted it to UTF-8; I copied the file over to a system with Notepad++, converted it back to ANSI before copying it back to the MySQL server and was able to start the MySQL service successfully.