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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-31T21:28:32+00:00

I am trying to alter column datatype of a primary key to tinyint from

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I am trying to alter column datatype of a primary key to tinyint from int.This column is a foreign key in other tables.So,I get the following error:

Msg 5074, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 The object ‘PK_User_tbl’ is
dependent on column ‘appId’. Msg 5074, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 The
object ‘FK_Details_tbl_User_tbl’ is dependent on column ‘appId’. Msg
5074, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 The object ‘FK_Log_tbl_User_tbl’ is
dependent on column ‘appId’. Msg 4922, Level 16, State 9, Line 1 ALTER
TABLE ALTER COLUMN appId failed because one or more objects access
this column.

Is there any other way other than to delete dependencies and recreate them?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I believe that you will have to drop the foreign key constraints first. Then update all of the appropriate tables and remap them as they were.

    ALTER TABLE [dbo.Details_tbl] DROP CONSTRAINT [FK_Details_tbl_User_tbl];
-- Perform more appropriate alters
ALTER TABLE [dbo.Details_tbl] ADD FOREIGN KEY (FK_Details_tbl_User_tbl) 
    REFERENCES User_tbl(appId);
-- Perform all appropriate alters to bring the key constraints back

    However, unless memory is a really big issue, I would keep the identity as an INT. Unless you are 100% positive that your keys will never grow past the TINYINT restraints. Just a word of caution 🙂

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