# What is the proper driver for MySQL on windows

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/what-is-the-proper-driver-for-mysql-on-windows/90316>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** database\
**Created:** [May 13, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/what-is-the-proper-driver-for-mysql-on-windows/90316 "2024-05-13T15:23:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Trung\_Tin\_Nguyen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/91b2a8/32.png) [@Trung\_Tin\_Nguyen](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Trung_Tin_Nguyen)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/what-is-the-proper-driver-for-mysql-on-windows/90316/1 "2024-05-13T15:23:45Z")

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So I'm following along with the video in Inductive University trying to create a MYSQL server and I'm having trouble picking the right JDBC driver for windows. The video points to a different link then the one that popped up when I clicked " This help page". Does anybody have any thoughts?

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/2/2/2242180720b49cba312bf34a5892cc20467fb400.png)

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/c/9/c9a11f2c6ab4d8d7297b07b5ab8514f15f36e9a2.png)

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/what-is-the-proper-driver-for-mysql-on-windows/90316/2 "2024-05-13T15:27:13Z")

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If you don't know that you need the MySQL driver specifically, just use the MariaDB driver that's already embedded on your gateway. It'll connect to your MySQL database just fine.

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/what-is-the-proper-driver-for-mysql-on-windows/90316/3 "2024-05-13T15:31:38Z")

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And if you don't have a specific commercial reason to use MySQL, use MariaDB instead. When it forked from MySQL (due to Oracle foolishness), the vast majority of competent developers went with the fork. MariaDB's feature set is far beyond MySQL's.