MySQL Workbench - Altering Next Auto Increment Value does not Work

Question

I am trying to change what the next auto increment value will be for a given table using MySQL workbench. The next auto increment value is currently set to 3, and I am trying to make it 2. Whenever I try to apply the changes, the workbench runs the following code.

ALTER TABLE `mysql_schema`.`mysql_table` 
AUTO_INCREMENT = 2 ;

After running this code however, the change is not applied, and the next auto increment value is still three. What's the problem? Why is the auto increment value not changing? I have tried to manually execute the code, but it did not work either.

Answer 1

I know this answer is a long time after the initial request, but it may help out people with the same problem.

So, you had two rows, deleted one of them and the next increment value is 3. To change this '3' to '2' and allow future incremental values to flow from '2' and not '3', please try the following.

From the 'Schemas' column (on the left):

• Right-click on the table name.
• Select 'Alter Table' (or press the 'spanner' icon).
• Look down to the 'grey area' that has the 'Apply' and 'Revert' buttons
• On the left of this 'grey area' are 6 tabs.
• One of these tabs is the 'Options' tab - Select the Options tab.
• In the 'General Options' section is an 'Auto Increment' box
• Type '2' into the 'Auto Increment' box and press the 'Apply' button.
• In the resultant box, press 'Apply' and then the 'Finish' buttons.
• Return to your table and add a new row and press the Apply button.
• The value of incremental column will now be '2'.

I hope this works for you.

Answer 2

You cannot reset the counter to a value less than or equal to any that have already been used.
For MyISAM, if the value is less than or equal to the maximum value currently in the AUTO_INCREMENT column, the value is reset to the current maximum plus one.
For InnoDB, if the value is less than the current maximum value in the column, no error occurs and the current sequence value is not changed.

MySQL official alter doc