Hello Peter.
I saw you were kind of left hanging out here...and since i just had this same issue i thought i would help you out.
I am a brand new MySQL user also and I had this same question. My background has always been sql server prior to moving to mySQL 5.0 now.
Luckily I had a buddy who was a mySQL guru.
It turns out that detailed instructions are right in the mySQL 5.0 help manual.
Here is the link for you.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/windows-install-archive.html
You can find this by visiting the mysql 5 help manual and viewing this help topic
2.3.5. Installing MySQL from a Noinstall Zip Archive
Essentially this involves moving an ini file or two and xcopying a few other files and calling a utility to start the service.
You can even modify the mysql service name, users,password etc by calling simple mysql configuration utilities. I haven't put this in production yet or worked out every single detail but i will be in the next few months.
We have about 130 clients across the U.S today that we are going to deploy this database to as part of our install. We will be silently installing for all of our clients and chose mySQL over sql server for many reasons.
1)We can handle silent install and configuration quick and easy with out a lot of hassle
2)16 meg total footprint size. Nice!!
3)TCP/IP networking enabled by default.
essentially..it looks like a piece of cake to distribute and work with and I even called support and talked to them and they were fantastic and helpful.
Good luck!