Is MySQL free to use?

Yes. MySQL Community Edition is completely free open-source software, and so is MySQL Workbench for managing and editing queries. You don't need a paid license to learn and practice SQL.

What is the Northwind database?

Northwind is a sample database of a fictional trading company, including tables for customers, orders, products, suppliers, and employees. It's very common in learning SQL because it's realistic and lets you practice JOIN, GROUP BY, and complex queries.

How do you load Northwind into MySQL?

Download the Northwind SQL file, open it in MySQL Workbench via File → Open SQL Script, and run it. The guide here explains every step with screenshots, from installation to the first query.

Installing MySQL and Northwind — Step-by-Step Guide

0

📦 Step 0 — Preparing the Raw Materials

Downloading two SQL files from Google Drive

Before opening the system, make sure the following two files were downloaded fromGoogle Drive and are on your computer:

📄

NORTHWIND(4).sql

The infrastructure file — builds the empty tables

📊

northwind-data.sql

The content file — inserts the data itself

⚠️ File required

note: the file northwind-data.sql It's the most important file. Make sure you selected it and not a similarly-named file.

1

🏗️ Step 1 — laying the foundations (Structure)

Opening the infrastructure file in MySQL Workbench

Open the MySQL Workbench.

📂

In the top menu on the left side, click File And then choose: Open SQL Script...

🖱️

In the window that opens, navigate to the folder where you saved the files. Select the first file: NORTHWIND(4).sql

⚡

After choosing the file, the code will appear on the screen. Click The lightning icon in the top toolbar to run the script and build the tables.

* Note: This file builds the empty tables. This is the skeleton of the database.

✓ Step 1 complete: The tables were created successfully. The structure now exists but is empty of content. The next step will bring in the data.

2

💾 Step 2 — Importing the Data

Loading the data file into the tables

📂

Repeat the same process: File ← Open SQL Script...

🖱️

This time choose the second file: northwind-data.sql — Unlike the previous agreement file

⚡

The new code will appear on the screen (instead of the previous code). Click again on The lightning icon in order to inject the data into the tables we created.

note: This step can take a few seconds — the script inserts thousands of data rows. Wait until you see a success message.

✓

✅ Quality check — verifying the result

Make sure Northwind appears in the Schemas list

Once the process is complete, here's how you'll know it all worked:

👈

Go to the pane Schemas on the left side and click the button Refresh (the refresh button).

🔍

Now you'll see in the list: Northwind — appears in bold. This means the database is ready!

🎉 congrats! The environment is ready to work. You can now start writing SQL queries against the Northwind database.

click on Northwind in the list to select it as the active database, and then you can start.

Common problem: If Northwind doesn't appear — make sure you clicked Refresh, and that you ran the second the files (both NORTHWIND(4).sql and northwind-data.sql).

🚀

Check that everything works — running the first query

If you get results — you succeeded!

Open a new Query Editor in Workbench and run:

USE Northwind;
SELECT * FROM customers LIMIT 5;

If you get a table with 5 customers — the database is working great! 🎉

Building the workspace