Install MongoDB Community Edition on Windows
On this page
Overview
Use this tutorial to install MongoDB 8.0 Community Edition on Windows using the default installation wizard.
MongoDB Version
This tutorial installs MongoDB 8.0 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 MSI
installation wizard. To install MongoDB using the msiexec.exe
command-line tool instead, see Install MongoDB using msiexec.exe. The
msiexec.exe
tool is useful for system administrators who wish to
deploy MongoDB in an unattended fashion using automation.
Considerations
MongoDB Shell, mongosh
The MongoDB Shell (mongosh) is not installed with MongoDB Server. You need to follow the mongosh installation instructions to download and install mongosh separately.
Platform Support
MongoDB 8.0 Community Edition supports the following 64-bit versions of Windows on x86_64 architecture:
Windows Server 2022
Windows Server 2019
Windows 11
MongoDB only supports the 64-bit versions of these platforms.
For more information, see Platform Support.
Note
MongoDB is not supported on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). To run MongoDB on Linux, use a supported Linux system.
Virtualization
Oracle offers experimental support for VirtualBox on Windows hosts where Hyper-V is running. However, Microsoft does not support VirtualBox on Hyper-V.
Disable Hyper-V if you want to install MongoDB on Windows using VirtualBox.
Production Notes
Before deploying MongoDB in a production environment, consider the Production Notes for Self-Managed Deployments document which offers performance considerations and configuration recommendations for production MongoDB deployments.
Full Time Diagnostic Data Capture
MongoDB logs diagnostic data to assist with troubleshooting. For detailed information, see Full Time Diagnostic Data Capture.
On Windows, to collect system data such as disk, cpu, and memory, FTDC requires Microsoft access permissions from the following groups:
Performance Monitor Users
Performance Log Users
If the user running mongod
and mongos
is not an administrator, add them to these groups to log
FTDC data. For more information, see the Microsoft documentation here.
Install MongoDB Community Edition
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
.
Follow the MongoDB Community Edition installation wizard.
The wizard steps you through the installation of MongoDB and MongoDB Compass.
- Choose Setup Type
- You can choose either the Complete (recommended for most users) or Custom setup type. The Complete setup option installs MongoDB and the MongoDB tools to the default location. The Custom setup option allows you to specify which executables are installed and where.
- Service Configuration
You can set up MongoDB as a Windows service during the install or just install the binaries.
You can configure and start MongoDB as a Windows service during the install, and the MongoDB service is started upon successful installation.
Select Install MongoD as a Service.
Select one of these options:
Run the service as Network Service user (Default)
This is a Windows user account that is built-in to Windows.
Run the service as a local or domain user
For an existing local user account, specify a period (
.
) for the Account Domain and specify the Account Name and the Account Password for the user.For an existing domain user, specify the Account Domain, Account Name and Account Password for that user.
Service Name. Specify the service name. Default name is
MongoDB
. If you already have a service with the specified name, you must choose another name.Data Directory. Specify the data directory, which corresponds to the
--dbpath
. If the directory does not exist, the installer will create the directory and sets the directory access to the service user.Log Directory. Specify the Log directory, which corresponds to the
--logpath
. If the directory does not exist, the installer will create the directory and sets the directory access to the service user.
If you choose not to configure MongoDB as a Windows service, uncheck the Install MongoD as a Service.
- Install MongoDB Compass
- Optional. To have the wizard install MongoDB Compass, select Install MongoDB Compass (Default).
When ready, click Install.
Install mongosh
The .msi
installer does not include mongosh. Follow
the mongosh installation instructions to download
and install the shell separately.
If You Installed MongoDB as a Windows Service
The MongoDB service starts upon successful installation.
If you would like to customize the service, you must stop the service. Customize the
MongoDB instance by editing the configuration file at
<install directory>\bin\mongod.cfg
.
For information about the available configuration options, refer to Self-Managed Configuration File Options.
After making changes, start the service again.
If You Did Not Install MongoDB as a Windows Service
If you only installed the executables and did not install MongoDB as a Windows service, you must manually start the MongoDB instance.
See Run MongoDB Community Edition from the Command Interpreter for instructions to start a MongoDB instance.
Run MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service
You can install and configure MongoDB as a Windows Service during
installation. The MongoDB service starts upon successful installation.
Configure the MongoDB instance with the configuration file
<install directory>\bin\mongod.cfg
.
If you have not already done so, follow the mongosh installation instructions to download and install the MongoDB Shell (mongosh).
Be sure to add the path to your mongosh.exe
binary to your
PATH
environment variable during installation.
Open a new Command Interpreter and enter mongosh.exe
to connect to MongoDB.
For more information on connecting to a mongod
using
mongosh.exe, such as connecting to a MongoDB instance
running on a different host and/or port, see
Connect to a Deployment.
For information on CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations, see:
Start MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service
To start/restart the MongoDB service, use the Services console:
From the Services console, locate the MongoDB service.
Right-click on the MongoDB service and click Start.
Stop MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service
To stop/pause the MongoDB service, use the Services console:
From the Services console, locate the MongoDB service.
Right-click on the MongoDB service and click Stop (or Pause).
Remove MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service
To remove the MongoDB service, first use the Services console to stop
the service. Then open a Windows command prompt/interpreter (cmd.exe
) as an Administrator, and
run the following command:
sc.exe delete MongoDB
Run MongoDB Community Edition from the Command Interpreter
You can run MongoDB Community Edition from the Windows command
prompt/interpreter (cmd.exe
) instead of as a service.
Open a Windows command prompt/interpreter
(cmd.exe
) as an Administrator.
Important
You must open the command interpreter as an Administrator.
Create 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 directories:
cd C:\ md "\data\db"
Start your MongoDB database.
To start MongoDB, run mongod.exe
.
"C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\8.0\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\8.0\bin\mongod.exe
from communicating on networks. To remedy this issue:
Click Private Networks, such as my home or work network.
Click Allow access.
To learn more about security and MongoDB, see the Security Documentation.
Connect to MongoDB.
If you have not already done so, follow the mongosh installation instructions to download and install the MongoDB Shell (mongosh).
Be sure to add the path to your mongosh.exe
binary to your
PATH
environment variable during installation.
Open a new Command Interpreter and enter mongosh.exe
to connect to MongoDB.
For more information on connecting to mongod
using
mongosh.exe, such as connecting to a MongoDB instance
running on a different host and/or port, see
Connect to a Deployment.
For information on CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations, see:
Additional Considerations
Localhost Binding by Default
By default, MongoDB launches with bindIp
set to
127.0.0.1
, which binds to the localhost network interface. This
means that the mongod.exe
can only accept connections from
clients that are running on the same machine. Remote clients will not be
able to connect to the mongod.exe
, and the mongod.exe
will
not be able to initialize a replica set unless this value is set
to a valid network interface.
This value can be configured either:
Warning
Before you bind your instance to a publicly-accessible IP address, you must secure your cluster from unauthorized access. For a complete list of security recommendations, see Security Checklist for Self-Managed Deployments. At minimum, consider enabling authentication and hardening network infrastructure.
For more information on configuring bindIp
, see
IP Binding in Self-Managed Deployments.
Point Releases and .msi
If you installed MongoDB with the Windows installer (.msi
), the
.msi
automatically upgrades within its release series (e.g. 7.2.1 to 7.2.2).
Upgrading a full release series (e.g. 6.0 to 7.0) requires a new installation.
Add MongoDB binaries to the System PATH
If you add C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\8.0\bin
to your
System PATH
you can omit the full path to the MongoDB Server
binaries. You should also add the path to mongosh if you
have not already done so.