Setting Identity to on or off in SQL server

Question

I want to set Is Identity property of a column to off and after inserting an explicit value setting it to on again.I\'ve written this query :

SET IDENTITY_INSERT         


        

Answer 1

All the line you've given does is to disable the identity so that you can insert specific values into your identity column - usually this is needed for one-offs such as moving data around. The identity is still there on the column, its just not being acted upon. Conceptually this is similar to the difference between disabling and removing triggers.

To remove the identity from the column entirely is harder. The question covers it, but the basic idea is that you have to create a new column, copy the data over, then remove the identity column.