I installed MySQL, how do I know what version I have and how to start and stop it?

If you installed MySQL it is probably in the directory where it is installed. For example, I recently installed XMAPP which brings in a bundle of stuff like Apache, MySQL, PHP etc. In this case, it was installed in the Xampp directory in the C drive.

You have to see if you have an executable program called mysql.exe among many other executbles and confi files.

If you have mysql.exe you should try to connect to it as in the following
snippet:

C:\xampp\mysql\bin>mysql
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 36
Server version: 5.1.30-community MySQL Community Server (GPL)


Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.


Try the help and get everything you need

The control should now go over from C:\ to mysql>

The first thing to do is to verify the version you have on your computer.

For this, do this, do not forget the semi-colon:

mysql> Select version(),Current_Date;
+------------------+--------------+
| version()        | Current_Date |
+------------------+--------------+
| 5.1.30-community | 2009-04-13   |
+------------------+--------------+
1 row in set (0.05 sec)

I assume you have no start and stop shortcuts for the server. If you do have you can start and stop from the shortcuts or when you have a window with start and stop buttons for the server.