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Install Metabase JAR on Windows with MySql Production Database

December 10, 2025 , ,
Power BI and Tableau are great data visualization business intelligence (BI) tools. However, they are very expensive. The free version of power BI has a lot of limitations in terms of the amount the data you can use for visual analytics, sharing of your dashboards on public power BI server which can breach the security of your data sources and many more. So, are there any alternatives, the answer is yes. Metabase is a free open-source alternative for all your data visual BI analytic needs. It provides all the features free of cost and the setup is done on your local machine or server, so, no breach of data privacy.

Today, I shall be demonstrating a detail process of running Metabase free open-source data visualization BI tool on local windows machine using Metabase JAR file along with MySql as Metabase core application production database.

 


Prerequisites:

Before proceeding any further in this article, following are some of the many prerequisites for this article:
  1. Download & Install XAMPP tool.
  2. Download & Install Java JDK latest version with LTS support.
  3. Download Metabase JAR file 
  4. Knowledge of Windows Command Prompt.
     

You can download the complete solution files that I have created in order to locally run Metabase without any issues. My provided solution contains Metabase directory structure along with batch file to run Metabase and instructions with command to fix the MySql data/time error by clicking the below button. 

Let's begin now.

1) Since I will be using MySql as Metabase core application's production database. You need to download and install the latest version of XAMPP for windows on your machine. If you want to know more detail about what does production database mean for running Metabase then checkout the video available at the end of this article.

 
2) Next download and install Java JDK latest version with LTS support which is core requirement for running Metabase with JAR file.
 
 
3) Now, download Metabase latest JAR file from the official website and placed it within directory structure as shown below in order to easily run this tool in future i.e.

 
 

4) Next, open command prompt as administrator and change into directory path of Metabase directory structure. Then one by one type and execute below set of commands in order to run Metabase tools i.e.
 
 
  

The above set of commands are necessary configurations for running Metabase with MySql as production database. If during initial setup you encounter "ERROR changeset migration/001_update_migrations.yaml::v50 filipesilva encountered an exception" then don't panic, I have provided the solution fix for it in the video available at the end of this article. 

5) Once Metabase initial setup is completed successfully, you can use your configure URL within the web browser in order to access the tool. Complete Metabase tool initial setup from within web browser and then afterwards you can explore the tool, make your dashboards, build visual analysis and explore administrator options as well i.e.
 


 

Conclusion

In this article, you will learn about the detail process of running Metabase free open-source data visualization BI tool on local windows machine using Metabase JAR file along with MySql as Metabase core application production database. You will learn about necessary prerequisites to download & install before dunning this tool. You will also learn about the Metabase local directory structure in order to smoothly and conveniently run this tool in future after initial setup. You can get my provided solution files for running this tool. Finally, you will learn to execute all necessary set of commands to run Metabase error free locally on windows machine.


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