Install doesn't use specified drive for data

[John Rowan]

I installed MySQL 8 onto a Windows server. I specified that the E drive should be use for data but MySQL data was put on C drive. I stopped the MySQL service, went into the my.ini and changed the datadir= to point to the E:\MySQL drive/directory then tried starting the MySQL service, Windows show going from stopped to starting and immediately back to stopped. If I revert the my.ini to the original datadir setting and try restarting MySQL service it fails to start. The only way to get MySQL to run is removing it then reinstalling. I've done this no less than 15 times, always the same. Any change to the my.ini causes MySQL to not start. I looked in the %temp% folder, there is no mysql log file.

The last re-install I wasn't even prompted for the location of the datadir.

I have it running but installed on the C drive which I've designated for the operating system (500 gigabytes total, 400 gig available). I expect the database to get large. I need to be able to have the datadir on the larger (3TB) E drive.