Sort:  
  1. Ignore the warnings about missing witness and/or miner config. You don't need either to run a node.
  2. Don't start steemd.exe by clicking on it. Open a command window, navigate to the directory where it is installed, and run it from the command line. That way you'll see error messages because the window stays open even if steemd crashes.
  3. I'm not a windows expert, but If you can't enter anything I'd take that as a sign that the program has not crashed but is still running. It might be downloading the blockchain, without giving any output. Check the Task Manager for activity, and keep an eye on the blockchain directory to see if it's running.
  4. Once you've got it running, modify the config if you want to mine STEEM.

Wow this is super important!
Step 2 saved my day, navigating to the directory is the missing part...
the miner in their source code don't work with relative path from executable dir, to be fixed!!!