Installing and upgrading help

I seriously suggest you download a v2.2 then try upgrading with that. There were a number of database issues with v2.0 that took a while to get around, particularly when there were third-party plugins involved, and some types of questions and a number of hosts installer scripts, as well as a few other things. If you are really using v2.0, then this could be something new so I would use something different, like a later version. I would recommend here that you use your backups to restore your v1.9 and then recreate it on a stand-alone. Use the standalone as a test to upgrade in a number of different ways before you do anything at all to your production site. Make sure you know what can go wrong and how to get around it first. The environment does not have too much influence at this point, unless the environment is not up to the requirements of Moodle.   

Suggest what you do is to remove any non-core blocks or plugins, delete the v1.9 code from the Moodle, keeping the config.php file only, then paste in the new code. On a server, use FTP to delete and paste.Then run it and all things being equal, the database should be properly converted, the moodledata folder will be properly restructured and it will usuallly work as it should. This method updates your entire database and will allow you to access any legacy files that you may be using.   

resolved this by

SELECT CONCAT('ALTER TABLE `', t.`TABLE_SCHEMA`, '`.`', t.`TABLE_NAME`, '` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;') as stmt
FROM `information_schema`.`TABLES` t
WHERE 1
AND t.`TABLE_SCHEMA` = 'moodledb'
ORDER BY 1 ;

and

ALTER TABLE `mdl_course` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

ALTER TABLE `mdl_context` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

ALTER TABLE `mdl_role_assignments` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

ALTER TABLE `mdl_enrol` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;