mysqld ping results (no replies)

I am still really at the early stages of setting up my mysql server. I ran this query (is that the right terminology? query - or is it a command?)

mysqld ping
and the following results were produced.


C:\Users\Brian>mysqld ping
101211 22:43:52 [Warning] '--default-character-set' is deprecated and will be re
moved in a future release. Please use '--character-set-server' instead.
101211 22:43:52 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
101211 22:43:52 InnoDB: Operating system error number 5 in a file operation.
InnoDB: The error means mysqld does not have the access rights to
InnoDB: the directory. It may also be you have created a subdirectory
InnoDB: of the same name as a data file.
InnoDB: File name .\ibdata1
InnoDB: File operation call: 'open'.
InnoDB: Cannot continue operation.


Addressing the first issue..
Q Does it mean that I should make an adjustment to my.ini at this point...

[mysql]

default-character-set=latin1
to
character-set-server=latin1

or

# The default character set that will be used when a new schema or table is
# created and no character set is defined
default-character-set=latin1
to
character-set-server=latin1

or to both


Q2 As to these other problems what should I do about these?