I just checked. If you do not have MYSQL running it does 100% what you described.
Looks like the installer uses HeidiSQL... when you open HeidiSQL and type in your user and password and hit Open does it open up or does it pop up and say Can't connect to MySQL server on '127.0.01' (10061) type message?
If you use EQEmu_server.pl it pops up with:
ERROR 2003 (HY000): Can't connect to MySQL server on 'localhost' (10061 "Unknown error")
[New Server] MySQL authorization failed or no MySQL installed.
Otherwise
For this example I created a folder named FakeDB and inside FakeDB I created another folder named EQEmuServer, then I pasted eqemu_sever.pl into the EQEmuServer and ran it.
I typed: new_server (ENTER)
I typed: myUSERNAME (ENTER)
I typed: myPASSWORD (ENTER)
It pops up with:
New Server] Success! We have a database connection
[Input] Specify a NEW database name that PEQ will be installed to:
I typed FAKEDB ---- MY DB will be named FAKEDB
Then it starts with:
[Install] EQEmu Server Installer... LOADING... PLEASE WAIT...
[Download] Saved: (eqemu_config_template.json) from
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ak...mu_config.json
[Update] Fetching Latest Windows Binaries...
Is this the same process you are going through and seeing?