diff --git a/sql/sql_table.cc b/sql/sql_table.cc
index d7a272f804c..5f8e6cf1f5a 100644
--- a/sql/sql_table.cc
+++ b/sql/sql_table.cc
@@ -3588,6 +3588,16 @@ copy_data_between_tables(TABLE *from,TABLE *to,
   ulong save_sql_mode;
   DBUG_ENTER("copy_data_between_tables");
 
+  /*
+    Turn off recovery logging since rollback of an alter table is to
+    delete the new table so there is no need to log the changes to it.
+    
+    This needs to be done before external_lock
+  */
+  error= ha_enable_transaction(thd, FALSE);
+  if (error)
+    DBUG_RETURN(-1);
+  
   if (!(copy= new Copy_field[to->s->fields]))
     DBUG_RETURN(-1);				/* purecov: inspected */
 
@@ -3646,17 +3656,6 @@ copy_data_between_tables(TABLE *from,TABLE *to,
       goto err;
   };
 
-  /*
-    Turn off recovery logging since rollback of an alter table is to
-    delete the new table so there is no need to log the changes to it.
-  */
-  error= ha_enable_transaction(thd,FALSE);
-  if (error)
-  {
-    error= 1;
-    goto err;
-  }
-
   /* Handler must be told explicitly to retrieve all columns, because
      this function does not set field->query_id in the columns to the
      current query id */