http://forum.mamp.info/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6890 - Start MAMP PRO. - Stop the MAMP Server if it is running. - Select File -> Edit Template -> MySQL my.cnf - An editor window appears. - If a Warning message appears confirm with OK. - Find the section "[mysqld]" - Beneath the last line of this section add this line: - character-set-server=utf8 - collation-server=utf8_unicode_ci - The section "[mysqld]" now looks like this (on my Mac): <code> # The MySQL server [mysqld] #port = 9999 socket = /Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/mysql.sock skip-locking key_buffer = 16M max_allowed_packet = 1M table_cache = 64 sort_buffer_size = 512K net_buffer_length = 8K read_buffer_size = 256K read_rnd_buffer_size = 512K myisam_sort_buffer_size = 8M bind-address = 127.0.0.1 default-storage-engine = InnoDB character-set-server=utf8 collation-server=utf8_unicode_ci </code> Save (Apple + S) all changes made on "my.cnf" Close the editor window (Apple + W) Start the MAMP PRO servers. You can test the new settings in phpmyadmin, as an sql-query: show variables like "character%" show variables like "collation%"