When installing SQL Server, why do you sometimes see that the Database Engine defaults to the SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS collation and other times another value?
This value is determined by the system locale which can be found via Control Panel -> Clock and Region -> Region -> Administrative -> Language for non-Unicode programs.
Here in New Zealand we typically use the Latin1_General_CI_AS collation.
When the system locale is changed to “English (New Zealand)” a prompt to restart Windows is received.
After a restart, the result of this change means that the SQL Server installation will now default to Latin1_General_CI_AS.
