Installing MySQL:

• For Windows: Download the MySQL installer from the official website and follow the installation wizard.
• For macOS: Install MySQL using Homebrew with the command brew install mysql.
• For Linux: Use the package manager specific to your distribution, such as apt for Ubuntu (sudo apt-get install mysql-server) or yum for CentOS (sudo yum install mysql-server).

Starting MySQL Service:

• On Windows, start the MySQL service from the Services app.
• On macOS and Linux, start MySQL using terminal commands like sudo service mysql start or brew services start mysql.

Securing MySQL Installation:

• Run mysql_secure_installation to set the root password, remove anonymous users, and disable remote root logins.

Creating a Database:

• Log in to MySQL using the command mysql -u root -p.
• Create a new database for your Laravel project with CREATE DATABASE your_database_name;.