Install MemgraphDB on Windows with WSL

This article briefly outlines the basic steps necessary to install and run Memgraph on Windows with the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

info

Newer versions of Memgraph are currently not backward compatible with older versions. That is why you won't be able to load storage snapshots between different versions.

Prerequisites

Before you proceed with the installation guide make sure that you have:

• The latest Memgraph Ubuntu package which can be downloaded from the Memgraph download hub.
• Installed Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). For detailed instructions, refer to the Microsoft documentation.

Installation guide

1. Start WSL by running the following command from PowerShell:

wsl

2. Install MemgraphDB using the latest Memgraph Ubuntu package and by running the following command in the Ubuntu terminal:

sudo dpkg -i /mnt/<drive>/Users/<windows username>/Downloads/memgraph_<version>.deb

3. Start the Memgraph server by issuing the following command:

sudo runuser -l memgraph -c '/usr/lib/memgraph/memgraph'

If successful, you should receive an output similar to the following:

You are running Memgraph vX.X.X

If you want to start Memgraph with different configuration settings, check out the Configuration section.
At this point, Memgraph is ready for you to submit queries.

caution

Potential installation error You could get errors while installing the package with the above commands if you don't have all of Memgraph's dependencies installed. The issues mostly look like the following:

dpkg: error processing package memgraph (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 memgraph

To install missing dependencies and finish the installation of the Memgraph package, just issue the following command:

sudo apt-get install -f

The above command will install all missing dependencies and will finish configuring the Memgraph package.

Configuration

The Memgraph configuration file is available at /etc/memgraph/memgraph.conf. If the configuration file is altered, Memgraph needs to be restarted.

To learn about all the configuration options, check out the Reference guide.

Where to next?

To learn how to query the database, take a look at the querying guide or Memgraph Playground for interactive tutorials.
Visit the Drivers overview page if you need to connect to the database programmatically.

Getting help

If you run into problems during the installation process, check out our installation troubleshooting guide to see if we have already covered the topic. For more information on the installation process and for additional questions, visit the Help Center page.