 <p>I had a very similar experience to @user1501382, but tweaked everything slightly in accordance with <a href="http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-windows/" rel="nofollow">the documentation</a> </p> <p>1) <code>cd c:</code> //changes to C drive</p> <p>2) <code>mkdir data</code> //creates directory data</p> <p>3) <code>cd data</code></p> <p>4) <code>mkdir db</code> //creates directory db </p> <p>5) <code>cd db</code> //changes directory so that you are in <code>c:/data/db</code></p> <p>6) run <code>mongod -dbpath</code> </p> <p>7) close this terminal, open a new one and run <code>mongod</code></p>