phpMyAdmin how do you get it to work?

[MacNala]

I have just installed XAMPP I think v3.2.1 from the control panel but it is not clear.
I have installed in a VM under VirtualBox Windows 7 Host and Guest.
I want to use phpMyAdmin but get error message when I try to start it :-
1.
The phpMyAdmin configuration storage is not completely configured, some extended features have been deactivated. To find out why click here.

The content of the 'here' is all gobbled gook to me. What am I supposed to do with it?

2.
Your configuration file contains settings (root with no password) that correspond to the default MySQL privileged account. Your MySQL server is running with this default, is open to intrusion, and you really should fix this security hole by setting a password for user 'root'.

I have some idea about 'root' being associated with Linux or Unix but it means nothing to me as a Windows user.

What gives?

[MacNala]

I have found the installer was xampp-win32-1.8.3-3-VC11 Installer.

[JJ_Tagy]

If you get that far (those messages), that means phpMyAdmin is working. What indication do you have that it isn't? Have you tried to manipulate databases?

1. You can either click there to get a description on how to extend features. If you don't know what they are, you most likely don't need them so you can ignore that extra configuration.

2. That is a default warning. For your internal test environment, you don't need to set a root password. Root here is the MySQL superuser - nothing to do with the OS.

You can turn off warnings in the settings section.

[MacNala]

You are quite correct that it does work.
Not knowing anything about phpMyAdmin led me to believe that it was failing.
I have been able to create a database and will now be able to get on with learning more.
Thanks.