Install MongoDB Community Edition on Windows

Overview

Use this tutorial to install MongoDB 3.6 Community Edition on Windows using the default installation wizard.

MongoDB Version

This tutorial installs MongoDB 3.6 Community Edition. To install a different version of MongoDB Community, use the version drop-down menu in the upper-left corner of this page to select the documentation for that version.

Installation Method

This tutorial installs MongoDB on Windows using the default installation wizard. Alternatively, you may chose to install MongoDB on Windows in an unattended fashion, using msiexec.exe from the command line (cmd.exe). This is useful for system administrators who wish to deploy MongoDB using automation.

➤ See Install MongoDB Community on Windows using msiexec.exe for instructions.

Considerations

Platform Support

MongoDB 3.6 Community Edition supports the following 64-bit versions of Windows on x86_64 architecture:

  • Windows 10 / Windows Server 2016
  • Windows 8.1 / Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012
  • Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2

MongoDB only supports the 64-bit versions of these platforms.

See Supported Platforms for more information.

Production Notes

Before deploying MongoDB in a production environment, consider the Production Notes document which offers performance considerations and configuration recommendations for production MongoDB deployments.

Install MongoDB Community Edition

Prerequisites

Users on Windows versions previous to Windows 10 must install the following update before installing MongoDB:

Update for Universal C Runtime for Windows

Users on Windows 10, Server 2016 and Server 2019 do not need this update.

Procedure

Follow these steps to install MongoDB Community Edition using the MongoDB Installer wizard. The installation process installs both the MongoDB binaries as well as the default configuration file <install directory>\bin\mongod.cfg.

1

Download MongoDB Community Edition.

  1. Open a web browser and visit the MongoDB Download Center .
  2. The Download Center should display MongoDB Community Server tab. If not, select Server, then click the MongoDB Community Server tab.
  3. In the Version dropdown, select the version that corresponds to MongoDB Server 3.6. The download center always displays the latest available point version. For older point releases, click All version binaries in the right hand navigation box.
  4. In the OS dropdown, verify that Windows 64-bit X64 is selected.
  5. In the Package drop down, verify that MSI is selected.
  6. Click Download.
2

Open Windows Explorer.

3
4

Double-click the .msi file.

5

Follow the MongoDB Community Edition installation wizard.

If you choose the Custom installation option, you may specify an installation directory. MongoDB has no other system dependencies. You can install and run MongoDB from any directory.

Run MongoDB Community Edition from the Command Interpreter

Open a Windows command prompt/interpreter (cmd.exe) as an Administrator.

Important

You must open the command interpreter as an Administrator.

1

Create the database directory.

Create the data directory where MongoDB stores data. MongoDB’s default data directory path is the absolute path \data\db on the drive from which you start MongoDB.

From the Command Interpreter, create the data directory:

cd C:\
md "\data\db"
2

Start your MongoDB database.

To start MongoDB, invoke mongod.exe.

"C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.6\bin\mongod.exe" --dbpath="c:\data\db"

The --dbpath option points to your database directory.

If the MongoDB database server is running correctly, the Command Interpreter displays:

[initandlisten] waiting for connections

Important

Depending on the Windows Defender Firewall settings on your Windows host, Windows may display a Security Alert dialog box about blocking “some features” of C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.6\bin\mongod.exe from communicating on networks. To remedy this issue:

  1. Click Private Networks, such as my home or work network.
  2. Click Allow access.

To learn more about security and MongoDB, see the Security Documentation.

3

Connect to MongoDB.

To connect a mongo.exe shell to the MongoDB instance, open another Command Interpreter with Administrative privileges and run:

"C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.6\bin\mongo.exe"

For more information on connecting a mongo.exe shell, such as to connect to a MongoDB instance running on a different host and/or port, see The mongo Shell. For information on CRUD (Create,Read,Update,Delete) operations, see MongoDB CRUD Operations.

To help you start using MongoDB, MongoDB provides Getting Started Guides in various driver editions. See Getting Started for the available editions.

Run MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service

Start MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service

You can set up the MongoDB server as a Windows Service that starts automatically at boot time.

1

Create the database and log directories.

If you have not created the data and log directories for your MongoDB server, you must create them before running MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows service.

From the Command Interpreter, create the following directories:

cd C:\
md "\data\db" "\data\log"
2

Create a MongoDB configuration file.

Create a MongoDB configuration file:

C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.6\mongod.cfg

Note

MongoDB configuration files use the YAML file format. Per the YAML 1.2 specification , all indents must use spaces to maintain portability. To ensure no parsing errors, enclose all values in double quotation marks (") and escape any backslash characters (\).

Set the storage.dbPath and systemLog.path. Include additional configuration options as needed:

systemLog:
  destination: "file"
  path: "c:\\data\\log\\mongod.log"
storage:
  dbPath: "c:\\data\\db"
3

Create the MongoDB service.

Invoke the following command in the Command Interpreter to create the service:

sc.exe create MongoDB binPath= "\"C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.6\bin\mongod.exe\" ^
  --service --config=\"C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.6\mongod.cfg\"" DisplayName= "MongoDB" start= auto

Note

sc.exe requires a space between “= ” and the configuration values (i.e. binPath= `` ) as well as using `` "\" and \"" to escape a double-quoted string.

If successfully created, the following message is written to the log:

 [SC] CreateService SUCCESS
4

Start the MongoDB service.

Close all other command prompts, then invoke the following command:

net start MongoDB
5

Verify that MongoDB has started successfully.

Check your MongoDB log file for the following line:

[initandlisten] waiting for connections on port 27017

You may see non-critical warnings in the process output. As long as you see this message in the MongoDB log, you can safely ignore these warnin