ACC2000: Unexpected Characters Appear When You Convert Databases That Have Non-U.S. English Characters

When you convert to Microsoft Access 2000 a Microsoft Access 2.0, 95, or 97 database that contains characters specific to a foreign language, unexpected characters appear in the converted database.

Earlier versions of Microsoft Access use ANSI code pages to represent foreign language symbols. When you convert a database to Access 2000 (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.

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:

1. Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
2. Add the following string values to the registry keys:

   Key name	Value name	Value type	Value data
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Jet\4.0\Engines\Jet3.x	ForceCP	String	Code Page Number (Example: 1252)
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Jet\4.0\Engines\Jet2.x	ForceCP	String	Code Page Number (Example: 1252)

   
   
3. Close Registry Editor.

To convert your Access database, follow these steps:

1. Quit Access 2000.
2. Reopen Access 2000, and then open the database that you want to convert.
3. When 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.