6 Deinstalling or Reinstalling Oracle WebCenter Sites

Follow the instructions in this section to deinstall or reinstall Oracle WebCenter Sites.

Oracle recommends that you always use the instructions in this section to remove the software. If you try to remove the software manually, you may encounter problems when you try to reinstall the software again at a later time. Following the procedures in this section ensures that the software is properly removed.

6.1 Understanding Product Deinstallation

The Oracle Fusion Middleware deinstaller removes the software from the Oracle home directory.

The following table summarizes the deinstallation procedure and links to supporting documentation.

Table 6-1 Roadmap for Product Deinstallation

Task Description Documentation

Stop Oracle Fusion Middleware

All servers and processes in your domain should be stopped before running the deinstaller.

See Stopping Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Remove your database schemas

Run Repository Creation Utility to remove your database schemas.

See Removing Your Database Schemas.

Remove the software

Run the product deinstaller to remove Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure.

Note that if your Oracle home contains multiple products, you must run the deinstaller multiple times, once for each product.

See Deinstalling the Software.

Remove the Oracle home directory

The deinstaller does not remove all files and folders from the Oracle home directory. After the deinstaller is finished, you must manually remove the Oracle home to complete your product removal.

See Removing the Oracle Home Directory Manually.

Remove your domain and application data

The deinstaller does not remove data contained in your Domain home or Application home directories, even if they are located inside the Oracle home. You must remove these directories manually.

See Removing the Domain and Application Data.

6.2 Stopping Oracle Fusion Middleware

Before running the deinstaller, Oracle recommends that you stop all servers and processes associated with the Oracle home you are going to remove.

For more information, see Stopping an Oracle Fusion Middleware Environment in Administering Oracle Fusion Middleware.

6.3 Removing Your Database Schemas

Before you remove the Oracle home, Oracle recommends that you run Repository Creation Utility (RCU) to remove database schemas associated with this domain.

Each domain has its own set of schemas, uniquely identified by a custom prefix (see Understanding Custom Prefixes in Creating Schemas with the Repository Creation Utility). This set of schemas cannot be shared with any other domain (see Planning Your Schema Creation in Creating Schemas with the Repository Creation Utility).

If there are multiple sets of schemas on your database, be sure to identify the schema prefix associated with the domain you are removing.

For schema removal steps, see Dropping Schemas in Creating Schemas with the Repository Creation Utility.

6.4 Deinstalling the Software

Follow the instructions in this section to start the product deinstaller and remove the software.

If you want to perform a silent (command-line) deinstallation, see Running the Oracle Universal Installer for Silent Deinstallation in Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer.

6.4.1 Starting the Deinstallation Program

You can start the deinstaller on either Unix or Windows.

To start the deinstaller:

  • On Unix

    Go to the ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin directory and enter the following command:

    ./deinstall.sh
    
  • On Windows

    Do one of the following:

    • Use a file manager window to go to the ORACLE_HOME\oui\bin directory and double click on deinstall.cmd.

    • From the command line, go to the ORACLE_HOME\oui\bin and enter the following command:

      deinstall.cmd
      
    • From the Start menu, select All Programs, then select Oracle, then select OracleHome, and then select Uninstall Oracle Middleware.

6.4.2 Selecting the Product to Deinstall

Because multiple products exist in the Oracle home, ensure that you are deinstalling the correct Oracle home.

After you run the deinstaller, the Distribution to Uninstall screen opens. From the drop-down list, select Select What Variable for Deinstallation? and click Uninstall. The deinstallation program shows the screens listed in Navigating the Deinstallation Screens.

Note:

You can deinstall Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure after you deinstall Oracle WebCenter Sites software by running the deinstallation wizard again. You will not encounter the Distribution to Deinstall screen if no other software depends on Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure.

6.4.3 Navigating the Deinstallation Screens

The deinstaller shows a series of screens to confirm the deinstallation of the software.

If you need more help with a deinstallation screen listed in Table 6-2, click Help on the screen.

Table 6-2 Deinstallation Screens and Descriptions

Screen Description

Welcome

This screen introduces you to the product deinstaller.

Deinstallation Summary

This screen shows the Oracle home directory and its contents that will be deinstalled. Verify that this is the correct directory.

If you want to save these options to a response file, click Save Response File and enter the response file location and name. You can use response file later during a silent deinstallation. For more on silent or command line deinstallation, see Running the Oracle Universal Installer for Silent Deinstallation in Installing Software with the Oracle Universal Installer.

Click Deinstall to begin removing the software.

Deinstallation Progress

Shows the deinstallation progress.

Deinstallation Complete

This screen appears when the deinstallation is complete. Review the information on this screen, then click Finish to dismiss the deinstaller.

6.5 Removing the Oracle Home Directory Manually

After deinstalling the software, you must manually remove your Oracle home directory and any existing sub-directories that the deinstaller did not remove.

For example, if your Oracle home directory was /home/Oracle/product/ORACLE_HOME on a UNIX operating system:

 cd /home/Oracle/product
 rm -rf ORACLE_HOME

On a Windows operating system, if your Oracle home directory was C:\Oracle\Product\ORACLE_HOME, use a file manager window and navigate to the C:\Oracle\Product directory, then right-click on the ORACLE_HOME folder and select Delete.

6.6 Removing the Program Shortcuts on Windows Operating Systems

On Windows operating systems, you must also manually remove the program shortcuts; the deinstaller does not remove them for you.

Go to the C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Oracle\Oracle Home\Product directory. If you only have one product installed in your Oracle home, you can remove the Oracle Home directory. If you have multiple products installed in your Oracle home, you must remove all products before removing the Oracle Home.

6.7 Removing the Domain and Application Data

After deinstalling the software, you must remove the domain and application data.

Follow these steps:
  1. Manually remove your Domain home directory.

    For example, if your Domain home directory was /home/Oracle/config/domains/wcs_domain on a UNIX operating system:

     cd /home/Oracle/config/domains
     rm -rf wcs_domain
    

    On a Windows operating system, if your Domain home directory was C:\Oracle\Config\domains\wcs_domain, use a file manager window and navigate to the C:\Oracle\Config\domains directory, then right-click on the wcs_domain folder and select Delete.

  2. Manually remove your Application home directory.

    For example, if your Application home directory was /home/Oracle/config/applications/wcs_domain on a UNIX operating system:

     cd /home/Oracle/config/applications
     rm -rf wcs_domain
    

    On a Windows operating system, if your Application home directory was C:\Oracle\Config\applications\wcs_domain, use a file manager window and navigate to the C:\Oracle\Config\applications directory, then right-click on the wcs_domain folder and select Delete.

  3. Backup the domain_registry.xml file in your Oracle home, then edit the file and remove the line associated with the domain you are removing. For example, to remove the wcs_domain, find the following line and remove it:
    <domain location="/home/Oracle/config/domains/wcs_domain"/>
    

    Save and exit the file when you are finished.

6.8 Reinstalling the Software

You can reinstall your software into the same Oracle home as a previous installation only if you deinstalled the software by following the instructions in this section, including manually removing the Oracle home directory.

When you reinstall, you can then specify the same Oracle home as your previous installation.

Consider the following cases where the Oracle home is not empty:

  • Installing in an existing Oracle home that contains the same feature sets.

    The installer warns you that the Oracle home you specified during installation already contains the same software you are trying to install.

    • Select a different Oracle home directory.

  • Installing in an existing, non-empty Oracle home.

    For example, suppose that you chose to create your Domain home or Application home somewhere inside your existing Oracle home. This data is not removed during the deinstallation process, so if you try to reinstall into the same Oracle home, the installer does not allow it. Your options are to:

    1. Deinstall your software from the Oracle home (as this section describes) and then remove the Oracle home directory. After this is complete, you can reinstall and reuse the same Oracle home location. Any domain or application data that was in the Oracle home must be re-created.

    2. Select a different Oracle home directory.