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Installing Grafana and connect with Prometheus on Windows

1. Download Grafana for Windows

  • Open your web browser and go to https://grafana.com/grafana/download.
  • Grafana will detect your operating system automatically, but if not:
    • Choose Windows as your platform.
    • Click Download the Installer (you’ll get a .msi file). You are downloading a file like: grafana-<version>.windows-amd64.msi

2. Install Grafana Using the MSI Installer

  • Once the .msi file is downloaded, double-click it to start the installation.
  • The installer will guide you:
    1. Click Next.
    2. Accept the License Agreement.
    3. Choose your installation location (default is fine: C:\Program Files\GrafanaLabs\grafana).
    4. Click Install.
    5. Finally, click Finish.

This will:

  • Install Grafana as a Windows service (it will automatically start with Windows).
  • Open TCP port 3000 (by default) for Grafana web access.

3. Start the Grafana Server

Normally, after installation:

  • Grafana starts automatically as a service.

If you need to manually start or stop it:

  • Press Windows Key + R → Type services.msc → Press Enter.
  • In the Services window, find Grafana.
  • Right-click → Start or Restart.

4. Access Grafana Web UI

Open the browser and go to:

http://localhost:3000

You will see the Grafana login page.

Default login credentials:

  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin

After your first login, you will be forced to change your password for security reasons. Choose a new password.

5. Connect Grafana to Prometheus

Now that Grafana is running, let’s add Prometheus as a data source.

Before that, make sure your Prometheus server is running on your machine!
(Usually Prometheus runs at http://localhost:9090.)

Add Prometheus as a Data Source

  • After you log into Grafana:
    • Click on the gear icon (⚙️) on the left sidebar → Click Data Sources.
    • Click + Add data source.
  • From the list, select Prometheus.

2.2 Configure Prometheus

  • In the HTTP URL field, enter the URL where Prometheus is running:
http://localhost:9090
  • Scroll down and click Save & Test.

If everything is correct, you’ll see a green success message:
“Data source is working”.

This means Grafana can now read all the metrics stored in Prometheus!