Change SQL Server 2005 Server Collation

Question

I need to set up an instance of SQL Server 2005 with SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_Bin as the server collation (the vendor did not take into accounting looking at DB collation for a bunch of things so stored procedures and temp tables default to the server level and the default collation will not work). During the install for SQL Server it did not give that as an option so I left it at default and finished installing it.

According to MSDN and Technet I should need to just run the following command:

setup.exe /q /ACTION=RebuildDatabase /INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER /SAPWD="sa-pwd" /SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS="BUILTIN\ADMINISTRATORS" /SqlCollation=SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AI

However, whenever I run the above command with my parameters I get the pop-up of the SQL Server installation wizard, accept the agreement, and then it gives me output stating how to use the command.

Any idea what I can do?

Answer 1

I think you're looking at instructions for SQL Server 2008.

See the article here for instructions for 2005.

Answer 2

If possible, I would uninstall and reinstall rather than trying to change it. Changing it without re-installing is not a simple process. To change from the default during install, just uncheck the "Hide advanced configuration options" check box on the Registration Information screen; doing that will give you a Collation Settings option about 4 screens later in the install.