How can I set compatibility level 80 in SQL Server 2012?

Question

When I try to set compatibility level to 80 in SQL Server 2012:

ALTER DATABASE database_name SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 80;

I get the following error:

Msg 15048, Level 16, State 1
Valid values of the database compatibility level are 90, 100, or 110.

Are there any workarounds?

[see this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5624262/understanding-compatibility-level-in-sql-server) && [this](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510680.aspx) — vhadalgi, Dec 11 '13 at 05:21
Why do you think you need to use 80 compatibility level? Is it because you are using `*=` or `=*` joins that you should have stopped using 20 years ago? :-) — Aaron Bertrand, Dec 11 '13 at 05:22

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 11 '13 at 05:18

7

What you are asking for is simply not possible; SQL Server 2012 does not support a compatibility level of 80. You need to use 90 or higher.

answered Dec 11 '13 at 05:18

Aaron Bertrand

1 Answers1