How can I start PostgreSQL on Windows? - postgresql

Question

I have installed Postgresql on my Windows 10 PC. I have used the pgAdmin II tool to create a database called company, and now I want to start the database server running. I cannot figure out how to do this.
I have run the start command on the postgres command line, and nothing seems to happen.
What I doing is:
postgres=# pg_ctl start
postgres=# pg_ctl status
postgres=# pg_ctl restart
postgres=# pg_ctl start company
postgres=# pg_ctl status
.....-> I am seeing nothing returned.

Answer 1

Go inside bin folder in C drive where Postgres is installed.
run following command in git bash or Command prompt:
pg_ctl.exe restart -D "<path upto data>"
Ex:
pg_ctl.exe restart -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.6\data"
Another way:
type "services.msc" in run popup(windows + R).
This will show all services running
Select Postgres service from list and click on start/stop/restart.
Thanks

Answer 2

pg_ctl is a command line (Windows) program not a SQL statement. You need to do that from a cmd.exe. Or use net start postgresql-9.5
If you have installed Postgres through the installer, you should start the Windows service instead of running pg_ctl manually, e.g. using:
net start postgresql-9.5
Note that the name of the service might be different in your installation. Another option is to start the service through the Windows control panel
I have used the pgAdmin II tool to create a database called company
Which means that Postgres is already running, so I don't understand why you think you need to do that again. Especially because the installer typically sets the service to start automatically when Windows is started.
The reason you are not seeing any result is that psql requires every SQL command to be terminated with ; in your case it's simply waiting for you to finish the statement.
See here for more details: In psql, why do some commands have no effect?

Answer 3

If you have installed postgres via the Windows installer you can start it in Services like so:

Answer 4

After a lot of search and tests i found the solution :
if you are in windows :
1 - first you must found the PG databases directory
execute the command as sql command in pgAdmin query tools
$ show data_directory;
result :
------------------------
- D:/PG_DATA/data -
------------------------
2 - go to the bin directory of postgres in my case it's located "c:/programms/postgresSql/bin"
and open a command prompt (CMD) and execute this command :
pg_ctl -D "D:\PSG_SQL\data" restart
This should do it.

Answer 5

The simplest way to start/stop/restart the installed PostgreSQL Server on your Windows device is as follows:
Start -> net start postgresql-x64-14
Stop -> net stop postgresql-x64-14
Restart -> net stop postgresql-x64-14 && net start postgresql-x64-14
The version number must be changed to take into account the installed version of your PostgreSQL Server.

Answer 6

For windows the following command worked well for me
pg_ctl.exe restart -D "<path_to_data>"
Eg: pg_ctl.exe restart -D "D:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\13\data"

Answer 7

If you are getting an error "psql.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command,... "
There can be :
Causes
System is unable to find the psql.exe tool, because the path to this tool is not specified in the system environment variable PATH
or
- PostgreSQL Database client not installed on your PC
Since you have already installed PostgreSQL the latter can not be the issue(assuming everything is installed as expected)
In order to fix the first one "please specify the full path to the bin directory in the PostgreSQL installation folder, where this tool resides."
For example
Path: "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\10\bin"

Answer 8

I found using
net start postgres_service_name
the only reliable way to operate Postgres on Windows

Answer 9

first find your binaries file where it is saved.
get the path in terminal mine is
C:\Users\LENOVO\Documents\postgresql-9.5.21-1-windows-x64-binaries
(1)\pgsql\bin
then find your local user data path, it is in mostly
C:\usr\local\pgsql\data
now all we have to hit following command in the binary terminal path:
C:\Users\LENOVO\Documents\postgresql-9.5.21-1-windows-x64-binaries (1)\pgsql\bin>pg_ctl -D "C:\usr\local\pgsql\data" start
all done!
autovaccum launcher started! cheers!

Answer 10

Remove Postmaster file in "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.6\data"
and restart the PostgreSQL services

Answer 11

There are different way to open PostgreSql database .
1> One of them is by going windows and select pgAdmin4 or pgAdmin3 depends to version you use and entering password you can access you database .
2> Another one is by terminal :
To able to select from terminal you have to add the path of your installed postgresql by going enviroment variables . To do that got to installed postgresql file and select the path of bin and add to enviroment variable of window setting .
after that you can type in terminal : psql -U postgres -h localhost
Hit enter and it ask you password . After giving password you can create database and tables and can access it .

Answer 12

I was try to solve the problem with Windows Terminal and I've cannot to solve it. Use Windows R + cmd (if you are using Windows) for it work!

Answer 13

The easiest way to enable pg_ctl command is to go to your PostgreSQL directory ~\PostgreSQL\version\bin\ and execute the pg_ctl.exe. Afterwards the pg_ctl commands will be available.