Instructions for Installing MySQL on Windows

Download MySQL v5.1
Download MySQL from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.1.html Just make sure you get a Windows Essentials (x86) binary version. (after you click the "pick a mirror," if it asks you to login, scroll down a little and click the "No thanks, just take me to the downloads!" link under the login form)

My file was named: mysql-essential-5.1.33-win32.msi
Install MySQL v5.1
Run the MSI file and use the following settings
Typical Setup
Skip Sign-Up
make sure "Configure the MySQL Server now" is checked
"Detailed Configuration"
"Developer Machine"
"Multifunctional Database"
"InnoDB Tablespace Settings" - leave everything default
"Decision Support (DSS)/OLAP"
make sure "Enable TCP/IP Networking" is checked and leave the port number at 3306 (at this point, if you have a firewall, it will usually try to access itself on the localhost)
Leave "Enable Strict Mode" checked
"Standard Character Set"
check "Install As Windows Service" and I would recommend leaving "Launch the MySQL Server automatically" checked.
enter your root password and I would recommend leaving "Enable root access from remote machines" unchecked
then hit "execute" and it'll install and set it up.
Getting PHP5 to work with MySQL - Official Info
Unfortunately PHP5 removed built-in support for MySQL. To get it to work, the easiest way is to copy the mysql library file by hand. Open the folder you unzipped your PHP to. Copy the libmysql.dll file (should be located like C:\php\libmysql.dll ) into your Window's System folder (usually C:\Windows\System32\ although might be C:\WinNT\System\ or something).

Then open up your php.ini in a text editor and search for ;extension=php_mysql.dll and remove the ; infont of that line.

Restart Apache and see if you get any errors. If it complains about "php_mysql.dll" either your extension directory isn't correct or windows can't find libmysql.dll
Testing MySQL
Testing MySQL is not exactly easy. However, here are the common connection strings for PHP. I recommend downloading phpMyAdmin and using it to create and manage your databases, etc.

PHP Connection test
";
mysql_select_db("$dbName") or die("Could not select database");
print "Database selected successfully
";

// close connection
mysql_close($link);
?>