Initializing, Starting, Stopping, and Accessing the PostgreSQL Server on Windows

This assumes that you have the PostgreSQL binaries for Windows and that you have placed it at "c:\pgsql" directory. To set up PostgreSQL, copy the "libpq.dll" file located in the directory "c:\pgsql\lib" to the "c:\windows\system32" directory as follows:

c:\pgsql\lib> copy libpq.dll c:\windows\system32


To initialize the database, create the data directory and initialize it by issuing the "initdb" command in the "c:\pgsql\bin" directory as follows:

c:\pgsql\bin>mkdir c:\pgsql\data
c:\pgsql\bin>initdb -D "c:\pgsql\data"

To start the database, type the "pg_ctl" command as follows:

c:\pgsql\bin> pg_ctl -D "c:\pgsql\data" -l logfile start

This will start the PostgreSQL database and create the database log file "logfile".

To stop the database, type the "pg_ctl" command as follows:

c:\pgsql\bin> pg_ctl -D "c:\pgsql\data" stop

To access the database at the DOS command prompt on Windows, type the command:

c:\pgsql\bin> cmd.exe /c chcp 1252
c:\pgsql\bin> psql