### 2.3.1 MySQL Installation Layout on Microsoft Windows

 For MySQL 8.0 on Windows, the default installation directory is `C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0` for installations performed with MySQL Installer. If you use the ZIP archive method to install MySQL, you may prefer to install in `C:\mysql`. However, the layout of the subdirectories remains the same.

 All of the files are located within this parent directory, using the structure shown in the following table.

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**Table 2.4 Default MySQL Installation Layout for Microsoft Windows**

|               Directory               |                                                        Contents of Directory                                                        |                                     Notes                                      |
|---------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                 `bin`                 |                                    [**mysqld**](mysqld.html) server, client and utility programs                                    |                                                                                |
|`%PROGRAMDATA%\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\`|                                                        Log files, databases                                                         |   The Windows system variable `%PROGRAMDATA%` defaults to `C:\ProgramData`.    |
|                `docs`                 |                                                        Release documentation                                                        |With MySQL Installer, use the `Modify` operation to select this optional folder.|
|               `include`               |                                                       Include (header) files                                                        |                                                                                |
|                 `lib`                 |                                                              Libraries                                                              |                                                                                |
|                `share`                |Miscellaneous support files, including error messages, character set files, sample configuration files, SQL for database installation|                                                                                |

