Dogma/Geek Outlet for my techno babble.

Installing MySql on Windows 2008

If you're installing MySql on a Windows box and you come up against the following error:

Field `authentication-string` doesn't have a default value.

It is likely that you have enabled 'Remote Access' as part of the configuration process. A bug in the installer tries to update the MySql User table with a NULL `authentication_string` value.

I resolved this issue by running the following command in the Command Prompt:

> mysql --user=root mysql
> alter table user modify `authentication_string` text COLLATE utf8_bin NULL;

And then continuing with the installation. Don't forget to open port 3306!

Rich