CREATE TABLE t1 ( `i1` INT(10) UNSIGNED NOT NULL, `d1` TIMESTAMP NULL DEFAULT NULL ) ENGINE=innodb; show create table t1; Table Create Table t1 CREATE TABLE `t1` ( `i1` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `d1` timestamp NULL DEFAULT NULL ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 INSERT INTO t1 (i1) VALUES (1), (2), (3), (4), (5); select * from t1; i1 d1 1 NULL 2 NULL 3 NULL 4 NULL 5 NULL set sql_mode = 'STRICT_ALL_TABLES,NO_ZERO_DATE'; ALTER TABLE t1 CHANGE `d1` `d1` TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOT NULL; drop table t1; CREATE TABLE t1 ( `i1` INT(10) UNSIGNED NOT NULL, `d1` TIMESTAMP NULL DEFAULT NULL ) ENGINE=innodb; INSERT INTO t1 (i1) VALUES (1), (2), (3), (4), (5); ALTER TABLE t1 CHANGE `d1` `d1` TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP; drop table t1; set sql_mode = '';