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Install on Windows

Install MongoDB Community on Windows using msiexec.exe

On this page

  • Overview
  • Considerations
  • Install MongoDB Community Edition
  • Start MongoDB Community Edition from the Command Interpreter
  • Run MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service
  • Additional Considerations

Note

MongoDB Atlas

MongoDB Atlas is a hosted MongoDB service option in the cloud which requires no installation overhead and offers a free tier to get started.

Overview

Use this tutorial to install MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition on Windows in an unattended fashion using msiexec.exe from the command line. This is useful for system administrators who wish to deploy MongoDB using automation.

MongoDB Version

This tutorial installs MongoDB 4.4 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 command-line tool msiexec.exe. To install MongoDB using the graphical MSI Installer instead, see Install MongoDB using the MSI Installer.

Considerations

Platform Support

Note

EOL Notice

  • MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition removes support for Windows 8.1 / Server 2012 R2

  • MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition removes support for Windows 8 / Server 2012

  • MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition removes support for Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2

MongoDB 4.4 Community Edition supports the following 64-bit versions of Windows on x86_64 architecture:

  • Windows Server 2019

  • Windows 10 / Windows Server 2016

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

See Platform Support Notes for more information.

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 document which offers performance considerations and configuration recommendations for production MongoDB deployments.

Install MongoDB Community Edition

Procedure

Follow these steps to install MongoDB Community Edition unattended on Windows from the Windows command prompt/interpreter (cmd.exe) using msiexec.exe.

1

Download the installer.

Download the MongoDB Community .msi installer from the following link:

➤ MongoDB Download Center

  1. In the Version dropdown, select the version of MongoDB to download.

  2. In the Platform dropdown, select Windows.

  3. In the Package dropdown, select msi.

  4. Click Download.

2

Run the Windows Installer from the Windows Command Interpreter.

Important

You must open the command interpreter as an Administrator.

Use the .msi installer to install all MongoDB binaries, including MongoDB Compass.

From the Command Interpreter, go to the directory containing the .msi installation binary and run:

msiexec.exe /l*v mdbinstall.log  /qb /i mongodb-windows-x86_64-4.4-signed.msi

The operation installs the binaries to the default directory C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\4.4\bin.

To specify a different installation location for the executables, add the INSTALLLOCATION value.

msiexec.exe /l*v mdbinstall.log  /qb /i mongodb-windows-x86_64-4.4-signed.msi ^
            INSTALLLOCATION="C:\MongoDB\Server\4.4\"

To suppress the installation of MongoDB Compass, you must explicitly include the SHOULD_INSTALL_COMPASS="0" argument.

msiexec.exe /l*v mdbinstall.log  /qb /i mongodb-windows-x86_64-4.4-signed.msi ^
            SHOULD_INSTALL_COMPASS="0"

To install specific MongoDB component sets, you can specify them in the ADDLOCAL argument using a comma-separated list including one or more of the following component sets:

Component Set Name
Binaries Included in the Component Set
ServerNoService
ServerService
Set up mongod.exe as a Windows service.
Router
MiscellaneousTools
mongodecrypt.exe, mongokerberos.exe, mongoldap.exe

For example, to install the MongoDB server (mongod.exe) with the legacy mongo client and then set up the MongoDB server as a Windows service, run:

msiexec.exe /l*v mdbinstall.log  /qb /i mongodb-windows-x86_64-4.4-signed.msi ^
            ADDLOCAL="ServerService,Client" ^
            SHOULD_INSTALL_COMPASS="0"

To include Compass in the installs, remove SHOULD_INSTALL_COMPASS="0".

Start 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 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"
2

Start your MongoDB database.

To start MongoDB, run mongod.exe.

"C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\4.4\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\4.4\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\4.4\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:

Run MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service

Start MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service

Starting in version 4.0, you can install and configure MongoDB as a Windows Service during the install, and the MongoDB service is started upon successful installation.

You can also manually manage the service from the command line. To start the MongoDB service from the command line, open a Windows command prompt/interpreter (cmd.exe) as an Administrator, and run the following command:

1

Start the MongoDB service.

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

net start MongoDB
2

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 warnings during your initial evaluation of MongoDB.

3

Connect to the MongoDB server.

To connect to MongoDB through the mongo.exe shell, open another Command Interpreter.

"C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\4.4\bin\mongo.exe"

Stop MongoDB Community Edition as a Windows Service

To stop/pause the MongoDB service, you can use the Services console:

  1. From the Services console, locate the MongoDB service.

  2. Right-click on the MongoDB service and click Stop (or Pause).

You can also manage the service from the command line. To stop the MongoDB service from the command line, open a Windows command prompt/interpreter (cmd.exe) as an Administrator, and run the following command:

net stop MongoDB

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

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 which is accessible from the remote clients.

This value can be configured either:

  • in the MongoDB configuration file with bindIp, or

  • via the command-line argument --bind_ip

Warning

Before binding to a non-localhost (e.g. publicly accessible) IP address, ensure you have secured your cluster from unauthorized access. For a complete list of security recommendations, see Security Checklist. At minimum, consider enabling authentication and hardening network infrastructure.

For more information on configuring bindIp, see IP Binding.

Point Releases and .msi

If you installed MongoDB with the Windows installer (.msi), the .msi automatically upgrades within the same release series (e.g. 4.2.1 to 4.2.2).

Upgrading a full release series (e.g. 4.0 to 4.2) requires a new installation.

Add MongoDB binaries to the System PATH

All command-line examples in this tutorial are provided as absolute paths to the MongoDB binaries. You can add C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\4.4\bin to your System PATH and then omit the full path to the MongoDB binaries.

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