Using Oracle Universal Installer with the deinstall option, or running the deinstallation tool from the Oracle home, stops and removes Oracle software and it's components, such as database and configuration files for a specific Oracle home.

You can remove the following software using Oracle Universal Installer or the Oracle deinstallation tool:

• Oracle Database

• Oracle Grid Infrastructure, which includes Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM)

• Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC)

• Oracle Database Client

Starting with Oracle Database 12c, the deinstallation tool is integrated with the database installation media. You can run the deinstallation tool using the runInstaller command with the -deinstall and -home options from the base directory of the Oracle Database, Oracle Database Client, or Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation media.

The deinstallation tool is also available as a separate command (deinstall) in Oracle home directories after installation, and is located in the following directory:

ORACLE_HOME\deinstall

The deinstallation tool uses the information you provide, plus information gathered from the software home to create a response file. You can alternatively supply a response file generated previously by the deinstall command using the –checkonly option, or by editing the response file template.

Using Oracle Universal Installer with the deinstall option, or running the deinstallation tool from the Oracle home, stops and removes Oracle software and its components, such as database and configuration files for a specific Oracle home.

If the software in the Oracle home is not running (for example, after an unsuccessful installation), then the deinstallation tool cannot determine the configuration, and you must provide all the configuration details either interactively or in a response file.

In addition, before you run the deinstallation tool for Oracle Grid Infrastructure installations, ensure that you meet the following guidelines:

• Dismount Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) and disable Oracle Automatic Storage Management Dynamic Volume Manager (Oracle ADVM).

• If Grid Naming Service (GNS) is in use, then notify your DNS administrator to delete the subdomain entry from the DNS.

Oracle recommends that you run the deinstallation tool as the Oracle software installation owner. The default method for running the deinstallation tool is from the deinstall directory in the Oracle home as the installation owner:

ORACLE_HOME\deinstall
DRIVE_LETTER:\> deinstall\deinstall.bat

The command uses the following syntax, where variable content is indicated by italics:

deinstall.bat [-silent] [-checkonly]
[-paramfile complete path of input parameter property file] [-params name1=value name2=value . . .]
[-o complete path of directory for saving files] [-help]
[-tmpdir complete path of temporary directory to use] 
[-logdir complete path of log directory to use] [-help]
 

To run the deinstallation tool from the database installation media, use the setup.exe command with the -deinstall option, followed by the -home option to specify the path of the Oracle home you want to remove using the following syntax, where variable content is indicated in italics:

setup.exe -deinstall -home complete path of Oracle home [-silent] [-checkonly] [-local]
[-paramfile complete path of input parameter property file] [-params name1=value
name2=value . . .] [-o complete path of directory for saving files] [-help]
[-tmpdir complete path of temporary directory to use] 
[-logdir complete path of log directory to use] [-help]
 

Provide information about your servers as prompted or accept the defaults.

In addition, you can run the deinstallation tool from other locations, or with a response file, or select other options to run the tool.

• -home

  Use this flag to indicate the home path of the Oracle home to check or deinstall. To deinstall Oracle software using the deinstall command, located in the Oracle home you plan to deinstall, provide a response file in a location outside the Oracle home, and do not use the -home flag.

  If you run the deinstallation tool from the ORACLE_HOME\deinstall path, then the -home flag is not required because the tool identifies the location of the home where it is run. If you run the tool using setup.exe -deinstall from the installation media, then -home is mandatory.

• -silent

  Use this flag to run the deinstallation tool in a noninteractive mode. This option requires one of the following:

  • A working system that it can access to determine the installation and configuration information. The -silent flag does not work with failed installations.

  • A response file that contains the configuration values for the Oracle home that is being deinstalled or deconfigured.

  You can generate a response file to use or modify by running the tool with the -checkonly flag. The tool then discovers information from the Oracle home to deinstall and deconfigure. It generates the response file that you can then use with the -silent option.

  You can also modify the template file deinstall.rsp.tmpl, located in the ORACLE_HOME\deinstall\response directory.

• -checkonly

  Use this flag to check the status of the Oracle software home configuration. Running the deinstallation tool with the -checkonly flag does not remove the Oracle configuration. The -checkonly flag generates a response file that you can then use with the deinstallation tool and -silent option.

• -paramfile complete path of input parameter property file

  Use this flag to run the deinstallation tool with a response file in a location other than the default. When you use this flag, provide the complete path where the response file is located.

  The default location of the response file depends on the location of the deinstallation tool:

  • From the installation media or stage location: \response

  • After installation from the installed Oracle home: \deinstall\response.

• -params ["name1=value" "name2=value" "name3=value" . . .]

  Use this flag with a response file to override one or more values to change it in a response file you have created.

• -o complete path of directory for saving response file

  Use this flag to provide a path other than the default location where the response file is saved. The default location is \response\deinstall.rsp.tmpl.

  The default location of the response file depends on the location of deinstallation tool:

  • From the installation media or stage location before installation: \response

  • After installation from the installed Oracle home: ORACLE_HOME/deinstall/response.

• -tmpdir complete path of temporary directory

  Specifies a non-default location where Oracle Deinstallation Tool writes the temporary files for the deinstallation.

• -logdir complete path of log directory

  Specifies a non-default location where Oracle Deinstallation Tool writes the log files for the deinstallation.

• -help

  Use the help option (-help ) to obtain additional information about the command optional flags.