errors.log

TL;DR before starting a fresh MySQL server for the first time, ensure you run mysqld --initialize. It may save you some headaches.

So you just installed MySQL Server and you are ready to give it a launch. You've read that all you have to do is navigate to the MySQL Server bin\ directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin\), and execute the mysqld command.

You execute the command and see no errors or issues and naturally think "Great! It worked!".

However... You quickly realize it didn't actually work, as nothing will connect to the server...

You then read that you can get errors printed to the console using the command mysqld --console, so you try that and you are met with multiple confusing errors... The error that stands out the most is something along the lines of failed to set datadir to C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\data\...

You struggle for hours googling trying to figure out why it wont work, maybe even reinstall MySQL Server multiple times... Well... As it turns out, the solution is actually quite simple...

All that is required to solve this issue is a single command: mysqld --initialize... If only I had found this sooner...