In this blog post, let’s learn about the error message “4809 – SINGLE_NCLOB requires a UNICODE (widechar) input file. The file specified is not Unicode.” in Microsoft SQL Server, the reason why it appears and the solution to fix it.
SQL Server Error Message
4809 – SINGLE_NCLOB requires a UNICODE (widechar) input file. The file specified is not Unicode.
Reason for the Error
The SQL Server Error Msg 4809 occurs when an attempt is made to use the SINGLE_NCLOB option to import a non-Unicode (wide char) file into a SQL Server database. SINGLE_NCLOB imports data stored in a single Unicode character large object (NCLOB) column, but this option requires that the input file is Unicode.
In simpler terms, this error means that the file used for the import is not in the correct format and cannot be used with the SINGLE_NCLOB option to import data into a SQL Server database.
Solution
To resolve this error, you may need to convert the input file to Unicode format or use a different import option compatible with the file format. For example, you can use Notepad++ to convert the file to Unicode format. Additionally, you can use the BULK INSERT statement in SQL Server to import the data. Still, you must specify the correct format file and encoding type to ensure the data is imported correctly.
