Microsoft KB Archive/289525

= ACC2002: Unexpected Characters Appear When You Convert Databases That Have Non-U.S. English Characters =

Article ID: 289525

Article Last Modified on 11/6/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q289525



Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

This article applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

For a Microsoft Access 2000 version of this article, see 202479.



SYMPTOMS
When you convert to Microsoft Access 2002 an Access 2.0, an Access 95, or an Access 97 database that contains characters specific to a foreign language, unexpected characters appear in the converted database.

NOTE: This does not apply to converting an Access 2000 database to Access 2002 because Access 2000 uses Unicode.



CAUSE
Earlier versions of Microsoft Access use ANSI code pages to represent foreign language symbols. When you convert a database to Access 2002 (Jet 4.0), all data is converted to Unicode. This requires that the data be mapped from ANSI code pages to Unicode.

To determine which ANSI code page to use in the mapping process, the Jet database engine uses the code page of the operating system on which you are converting the database.

If the code page of your operating system is U.S. English (1252), the Jet database engine maps the characters specific to a foreign language by using the U.S. English code page. Using the U.S. English code page during the conversion process of a database with characters specific to a foreign language causes incorrect characters to appear in your converted database.



RESOLUTION
Convert databases that contain characters specific to a foreign language on an operating system that uses the code page of the foreign language in question.

When necessary, however, you can add two entries to your computer's registry to force the Jet database engine to use a specific code page when it converts a database.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To add the appropriate registry keys to your computer and convert your database, follow these steps:  Open Registry Editor. Add the following string values to the registry keys:

 Quit Registry Editor.

To convert your Access database, follow these steps:
 * 1) Quit Access 2002.
 * 2) Reopen Access 2002, and then open the database that you want to convert.
 * 3) When you are prompted, convert your database.

WARNING: After you have successfully converted the database, remove the registry keys that you added earlier. If you do not do so, all the databases that you convert in the future will be converted with the code page that you specified in the registry.

Additional query words: prb

Keywords: kbprb KB289525

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