MySQL Installer Not Working on Windows 11 25H2 — Full Fix (Error Code 2738 / VBScript Missing)

Mukesh Lilawat — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 09:59:48 +0000

Author: Mukesh Lilawat
Updated: October 2025

🧩 Overview

After updating to Windows 11 version 25H2, many developers are facing a strange issue — MySQL Installer fails to install MySQL Server, showing error messages like:

"The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. The error code is 2738."

Even running this command fails:

regsvr32 vbscript.dll

With the error:
“The module vbscript.dll failed to load. The specified module could not be found.”

If this sounds familiar — don’t worry, you’re not alone. This article explains why this happens and the complete solution with working steps for 2025 systems.

⚙️ Root Cause — Why MySQL Installer Breaks on Windows 11 25H2

Microsoft has removed VBScript support starting with Windows 11 24H2 / 25H2 builds (and Windows Server 2025).

VBScript was deprecated in favor of PowerShell and modern scripting APIs.

However, MySQL’s Windows Installer (MSI) still depends on VBScript internally — especially during:

Service registration
Configuration steps
Custom action execution during setup

So when VBScript is missing, the installer crashes with:
Error code 2738
and fails to install the MySQL Server.

🧨 The Bad News

As of October 2025, VBScript cannot be re-enabled or reinstalled on Windows 11 25H2.

Running:
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:VBScript /all

returns:
Feature name VBScript is unknown.

This means the old MSI-based MySQL Installer will never work on these versions.

✅ The Good News — MySQL Still Works Perfectly!

MySQL itself (the mysqld.exe service) does not require VBScript.
Only the installer GUI does.

So, you can still:

Run MySQL locally
Use MySQL Workbench
Manage databases as usual

The fix?
Install MySQL manually from the ZIP archive.

🧩 Step-by-Step Fix — Manual MySQL ZIP Installation

Step 1: Download MySQL ZIP Package

Go to the official MySQL download page:
https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/

Choose:

Windows (x86, 64-bit), ZIP Archive
Version: MySQL 8.0.43 (recommended)

Extract it to:
C:\mysql

Step 2: Initialize Data Directory

Open Command Prompt as Administrator, then run:
cd C:\mysql\bin
mysqld --initialize --console

Step 3: Install MySQL as a Windows Service

mysqld --install MySQL --defaults-file="C:\mysql\my.ini"

If my.ini doesn’t exist, create a new one at C:\mysql\my.ini with this content:

[mysqld]
basedir=C:/mysql
datadir=C:/mysql/data
port=3306
sql_mode=NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION,STRICT_TRANS_TABLES

Step 4: Start MySQL Server

net start mysql

If everything worked, you’ll see:
The MySQL service was started successfully.

Step 5: Set Your Root Password (root)

mysql -u root
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

🧠 Optional: Let MySQL Workbench Auto-Detect the Server

Workbench uses registry entries to find local servers.
Since we did a manual install, we’ll create one manually.

Open Notepad and paste:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MySQL AB]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MySQL AB\MySQL Server 8.0]
"Location"="C:\mysql"
"Version"="8.0.43"

Save it as:
mysql_fix.reg

Then:

Right-click → Merge
Approve admin prompts

Now restart MySQL Workbench, and it should auto-detect your server as “Local MySQL Instance”.

⚠️ Common Workbench Warning

When connecting, you may see:

“Incompatible/nonstandard server version or connection protocol detected (9.5.0).”

This is just a harmless warning — click “Continue Anyway”.
MySQL Workbench works fully fine with 8.0.43 or newer builds.

🧰 Alternative Options

🐋 Option 1 — Run MySQL via Docker
docker run --name mysql -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=1215 -p 3306:3306 -d mysql:8.0

🐧 Option 2 — Use WSL (Ubuntu Subsystem)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mysql-server

🧾 Summary Table

Method	Works on Win 25H2?	Needs VBScript?	Difficulty
MySQL MSI Installer	No	Yes	Easy (but broken)
ZIP Manual Install	Yes	No	Medium
Docker	Yes	No	Easy
WSL	Yes	No	Medium

🏁 Conclusion

The removal of VBScript in Windows 11 25H2 broke legacy installers like MySQL’s MSI,
but MySQL itself is fully functional.

By using the ZIP archive or Docker method, you can easily set up MySQL 8.0.43 with full Workbench support — no VBScript required.

Developers: don’t panic — MySQL isn’t dead on Windows, it just needs a smarter install.

✍️ Bonus Tip

If you write tech blogs, include these tags for better reach:

MySQL #Windows11 #Developers #Database #Fix #VBScript #Error2738 #DevCommunity

DEV Community: Mukesh Lilawat