How to change the collation of a MS SQL database

NOTE: While changing the collation, no users should be connected to the database.

In order to successfully change the database collation you will need to set your database to a single-user mode, change the collation, and set it back to a multi-user mode.

You can copy, paste, and run the following T-SQL script to achieve this:

    
            SELECT name, collation_name FROM sys.databases; 
        
            GO 
        
            ALTER DATABASE [DatabaseName]  SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE; 
        
            GO 
        
            ALTER DATABASE [DatabaseName] COLLATE CollationName; 
        
            GO 
        
            ALTER DATABASE [DatabaseName]  SET MULTI_USER; 
        
            GO 
        
            SELECT name, collation_name FROM sys.databases; 
        
            GO

Replace DatabaseName with your actual database name and CollationName with your target collation name.

The query result window will display the collation names of your databases before and after the execution of the query.

You can see which collations are available on the server by executing the following statement:

SELECT * FROM fn_helpcollations()

Article ID: 41, Created: June 28, 2012 at 12:37 AM, Modified: June 28, 2012 at 12:37 AM

How to change the collation of a MS SQL database

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