Setting up MySQL DB on a network drive (no replies)

I am trying to setup a MySQL database on a network drive so my colleagues can have access to it. From what I've read, this setup is inadvisable and a better way would be to setup a dedicated MySQL server machine with users connecting via ODBC. Unfortunately, this is not feasible for us at the moment due to a lack of dedicated machine that can be used as a MySQL server.

I am currently using MySQL 5.7. So far, I have been able to do the following:
1. Create a database template in my localhost (C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\Data)
2. Copy MySQL folder to a network drive (C:\ProgramData\MySQL to O:\Some Network Folder\Another Network Folder\MySQL)
3. Edited mysql_config.pl (in C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.7\bin) so that: my $ldata = 'O:/Some Network Folder/Another Network Folder/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.7/data';
4. Restarted MySQL service

MySQL is now unable to connect to a server with the following error:
Could not connect, server may not be running. Can't connect to MySQL server on 'localhost' (10061)

Is there a step that I'm missing in this process? I am also open to a better way to doing this if anyone has any good ideas.