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Install Memgraph
WSL

Install Memgraph 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.

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Newer versions of Memgraph might not be backward compatible with older versions and you might not be able to load storage snapshots between different versions. In that case, please contact the Memgraph team and we'll help with the migration as much as possible.

Prerequisites

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

Installation guide

Start Ubuntu

Run the command below from PowerShell to launch Ubuntu:

ubuntu2004

If you have another version of Ubuntu, and not Ubuntu 20.04, start that one instead. You can also run it from the Start menu.

Install Memgraph

To set up the Memgraph database, use the command below in the Ubuntu terminal:

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

You can also obtain the Memgraph package using the direct download link. On that page, you will always find the links to the latest release. Make sure to replace the link in the command below with the most recent one:

wget [YOUR_DIRECT_DOWNLOAD_LINK_HERE] -O memgraph.deb 
sudo dpkg -i memgraph.deb

For example, the command for version 2.10.1 on Ubuntu 20.04 would look like:

wget https://download.memgraph.com/memgraph/v2.10.1/ubuntu-20.04/memgraph_2.10.1-1_amd64.deb -O memgraph.deb
sudo dpkg -i memgraph.deb

Start the Memgraph

Use the command below to launch the Memgraph server::

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.

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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.

Troubleshooting

Accessing files from your Windows system

Usually, you can find the Windows users directories in this location:

/mnt/<drive>/Users/<username>

Unable to install the Memgraph package with dpkg

While running the following dpkg command:

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

you may encounter errors that resemble the following:

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

These errors indicate that you don’t have all of the necessary dependencies installed. To install the missing dependencies and finish the installation, issue the following command:

sudo apt-get install -f

Multiple notes when starting Memgraph

When you start a Memgraph instance, you may see the following list of notes in your terminal:

You are running Memgraph v1.4.0-community
 
NOTE: Please install networkx to be able to use graph_analyzer module. Using Python:
3.8.2 (default, Jul 16 2020, 14:00:26)
[GCC 9.3.0]
 
NOTE: Please install networkx to be able to use Memgraph NetworkX wrappers. Using Python:
3.8.2 (default, Jul 16 2020, 14:00:26)
[GCC 9.3.0]
 
NOTE: Please install networkx, numpy, scipy to be able to use proxied NetworkX algorithms. E.g., CALL nxalg.pagerank(...).
Using Python:
3.8.2 (default, Jul 16 2020, 14:00:26)
[GCC 9.3.0]
 
NOTE: Please install networkx to be able to use wcc module.
Using Python:
3.8.2 (default, Jul 16 2020, 14:00:26)
[GCC 9.3.0]

If you wish to work with built-in NetworkX modules in Memgraph, you need to install the following Python libraries:

For more information on how to install Python libraries in WSL, follow the Python installation guide (opens in a new tab). If you are not interested in working with query modules that depend on these libraries, you can ignore the warnings.

For more information on the installation process and for additional questions, visit the Help Center page.

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.

Tutorial - Install Memgraph on Windows 10 with WSL

In this tutorial, you will install both Memgraph database and Memgraph Lab on Windows 10. You will then test each installation by running a few basic queries to make sure that everything is working correctly.

You can install Memgraph database and Memgraph Lab as separate components or you can use the Memgraph Platform Docker image. Memgraph Platform contains Memgraph database, Memgraph Lab, mgconsole and MAGE. It is the recommended installation option, and it isn't part of this tutorial.

If you want to install Memgraph Platform, please follow the Memgraph Platform installation guide.

Memgraph is also available as a Memgraph Cloud solution that requires no installation - be sure to check it out.

Memgraph database (opens in a new tab) is a native, in-memory graph database built for real-time business-critical applications. Memgraph supports strongly-consistent ACID transactions and uses the Cypher query language for structuring, manipulating, and exploring data.

Memgraph Lab is a lightweight and intuitive Cypher and Bolt (opens in a new tab) compatible integrated development environment (IDE). It's designed to help you import data, develop, debug, and profile database queries and visualize query results.

Prerequisites

For a seamless installation of Memgraph database and Memgraph Lab on Windows 10, ensure that you have:

  • A computer running Windows 10 (64-bit version) with Windows subsystem for Linux
  • Administrative rights to your Windows PC and an internet connection.
  • Basic knowledge of working with the command line.

Step 1 - Enable Windows Subsystem for Linux

First, you need to enable the Windows subsystem (WSL) for Linux by following the Microsoft instructions (opens in a new tab).

After you install WSL the next step is to install Ubuntu Linux distribution. To install it do the following:

  1. Open Windows PowerShell
  2. Run the wsl --install -d Ubuntu command
  3. Enter the username and password for your new Linux user

If everything works properly, you will get the following output:

Enter new UNIX username: james
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!

Congratulations! You have successfully installed the Debian distribution of Linux on your Windows machine. You are now ready to install Memgraph.

Step 2 - Installing Memgraph

You must know your exact Ubuntu version so that you can download the right Memgraph package. To find out the version, run the following command in the Ubuntu shell:

lsb_release -d

Your output will look something like this:

Description:    Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Therefore, the Linux distribution is Ubuntu 20.04.

Now you can go to Memgraph's download (opens in a new tab) page and download the installation package for your Linux distribution (in this example, Ubuntu 20.04).

Once the download is complete, open your Ubuntu shell and run the following command to start the installation process:

sudo dpkg -i /path/to/memgraph_<version>.deb
  • replace /path/to with path to where you downloaded your installation package.
  • replace _version with the version of the package that you are installing (usually the name of the installation package you downloaded).

For example, if user Arthur downloads version 2.1.1-1_amd64 to default Windows download folder, the file will be located at /mnt/c/Users/Arthur/Downloads, and the command would be:

sudo dpkg -i /mnt/c/Users/Arthur/Downloads/memgraph_2.1.1-1_amd64.deb

If you see any error related to missing dependency packages, you might have to run the following commands before installing Memgraph:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install

Normally, you would start Memgraph using systemd, but unfortunately, this is not an option in WSL. You can bypass this inconvenience by using the command runuser, which allows you to run commands with a substitute user and group ID. Start the Memgraph server by issuing the following command:

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

If Memgraph has been installed correctly, you will see something like this:

You are running Memgraph v2.1.1

Awesome! Now you have a running Memgraph instance on your Windows machine.

Step 3 - Installing Memgraph Lab and connecting to Memgraph

Start by downloading Memgraph Lab (opens in a new tab) for Windows.

The downloaded package will be a .exe installer and can be easily run just like other Windows installers.

Before connecting, ensure that the Memgraph server is running as explained in Step 2. You won't be able to connect if the server is not already running!

Double click on the installer to start the installation process.

Once the installation is completed, Memgraph Lab will launch, and you will be presented with the Home screen. Click Connect now to connect to your Memgraph instance.

Connect to Memgraph

You can also click Connect Manually to connect to Memgraph. Manual connection is usually used when you want to connect to a remote instance of Memgraph, and not a local one. Using the default values of the "Host" and "Port" text fields, and leaving the "Username" and "Password" fields blank, will also connect you to your running Memgraph instance.

Once connected, you'll be presented with Memgraph Lab's user interface.

Now that you have Memgraph Lab installed and connected to Memgraph, you will run a few basic queries to make sure everything works properly.

Step 4 - Testing the Memgraph Lab's connection to Memgraph

You can test the Memgraph Lab's connection to Memgraph by running your first query. You will use the Cypher query to create a simple graph that has two nodes and one relationship.

memgraph-lab-run-match-query-result

  1. First, click the Query in the sidebar.

  2. Next, enter this first query at the query editor which is located at the top of the screen:

    CREATE (u:User {name: "Alice"})-[:Likes]->(m:Software {name: "Memgraph"});

    The query above creates 2 nodes and a relationship between them.

  3. Lastly, click "Run" or press Ctrl + Enter to execute the query.

memgraph-lab-run-query

If no error message appeared, that means your query was executed successfully.

You can retrieve the nodes and relationships you've just created by executing the following Cypher query:

MATCH (u:User)-[r]->(x)
RETURN u, r, x;

On the Data tab your result should look similar to this:

memgraph-lab-run-match-query-data

If you switch to the Graph tab you will see something like this:

memgraph-lab-run-match-query-graph

Now you have the Memgraph Lab working correctly on your system. Memgraph Lab's visual presentation of query results is one of its best features.

Where to next?

In this tutorial, you installed Memgraph database and Memgraph Lab on Windows 10 using Windows Subsystem for Linux. You tested the Memgraph Lab's connection to Memgraph database by executing Cypher queries.

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