QBCore and txAdmin — your first server
This is the complete beginner path to a running FiveM server. No skipped steps, no assumptions. By the end you have MariaDB running, txAdmin linked to your account, a QBCore recipe deployed, HeidiSQL browsing the database, and your own client joined. This is the lesson most beginners wish they had on day one.
Build it
Install MariaDB
A FiveM server stores player data in a database. We use MariaDB, a free standalone database that runs as a Windows service in the background. A service is a program Windows starts and keeps running on its own.
Download the Windows x86_64 MSI installer from https://mariadb.org/download/ and run it. Accept the defaults, but set a strong during install and save it in a password manager. Keep port and install it as a .