Works for me: <pre> sqlite> create table characters([...]); sqlite> ALTER TABLE CHARACTERS ADD BLOOD FLOAT DEFAULT 0.0; sqlite> .schema CREATE TABLE characters([...], BLOOD FLOAT DEFAULT 0.0); </pre> I suspect that phpliteadmin is not able to access the file, or that the database is locked by another program. As for the error message, you have to complain to the phpliteadmin authors.