MySQL 5.7 Reference Manual Including MySQL NDB Cluster 7.5 and NDB Cluster 7.6

5.4.2.1 Error Logging on Windows

On Windows, mysqld uses the --log-error, --pid-file, and --console options to determine whether mysqld writes the error log to the console or a file, and, if to a file, the file name:

If the server writes the error log to the console, it sets the log_error system variable to stderr. Otherwise, the server writes the error log to a file and sets log_error to the file name.

In addition, the server by default writes events and error messages to the Windows Event Log within the Application log: