D Troubleshooting the Oracle Database Client Installation

This appendix contains the following information about troubleshooting:

D.1 Verifying Requirements

Before you try any of the troubleshooting steps in this appendix, do the following:

D.2 What to Do if an Installation Error Occurs?

If you encounter an error during installation:

D.3 Reviewing the Log of an Installation Session

When you run Oracle Universal Installer on a computer with no Oracle software installed, it creates a directory called:

DRIVE_LETTER:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs

During this first installation and all subsequent installations, Oracle Universal Installer records all of the actions that it performs in a log file in this directory. If you encounter problems during the installation, review the log file for information about possible causes of the problem.

Note:

  • If you run Oracle Universal Installer during the time that Windows Scheduler jobs are running, then you may encounter unexplained installation problems if your Windows Scheduler job is performing cleanup, and temporary files are deleted before the installation is finished. Oracle recommends that you complete installation before the Windows Scheduler jobs are run, or disable Windows Scheduler jobs that perform cleanup of temporary files until after the installation is completed.

  • Do not delete or manually alter the Inventory directory or its contents. Doing so can prevent Oracle Universal Installer from locating products that you install on your system.

Log filenames for interactive installations take the form:

installActionsdate_time.log

For example, if an interactive installation occurred at 9:00:56 A.M. on February 14, 2005, the log file would be named:

installActions2005-02-14_09-00-56-am.log

D.4 Silent or Noninteractive Installation Response File Error Handling

To determine whether a silent or nonintereactive installation succeeds or fails, check the silentInstallActionsdate_time.log file, located in the DRIVE_LETTER:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs directory.

A silent installation fails if:

  • You do not specify a response file.

  • You specify an incorrect or incomplete response file.

    For example, a common problem is that while all the database-specific data is filled out correctly, the staging area location may be incorrect. If this is the case, check the FROM_LOCATION variable and make sure that it points to the products.xml file in the installation media. In the installation media, this products.xml is in client\stage.

  • Oracle Universal Installer encounters an error, such as insufficient disk space.

Oracle Universal Installer or a configuration assistant validates the response file at runtime. If the validation fails, the installation or configuration process ends. Oracle Universal Installer treats values for parameters that are of the wrong context, format, or type as if no value was specified in the file.

See Also:

"Reviewing the Log of an Installation Session" for information on interactive installation log files

D.5 Troubleshooting Configuration Assistants

To troubleshoot an installation error that occurs when a configuration assistant is running:

  • Review the installation log files listed in "Reviewing the Log of an Installation Session".

  • Review the specific configuration assistant log file located in the ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\cfgtoollogs directory. Try to fix the issue that caused the error.

  • If you see the Fatal Error. Reinstall message, look for the cause of the problem by reviewing the log files. Refer to "Fatal Errors" for further instructions.

D.5.1 Configuration Assistant Failure

Oracle configuration assistant failures are noted at the bottom of the installation window. The configuration assistant interface displays additional information, if available. The configuration assistant execution status is stored in the installActionsdate_time.log file.

The execution status codes are listed in the following table:

Status Result Code
Configuration assistant succeeded 0
Configuration assistant failed 1
Configuration assistant cancelled -1

D.5.2 Fatal Errors

If you receive a fatal error while a configuration assistant is running:

  1. Remove the failed installation as described in "Cleaning Up After a Failed Installation".

  2. Correct the cause of the fatal error.

  3. Reinstall the Oracle software.

D.6 Troubleshooting Inventory Issues

If you face any of the following situations for Oracle home, then run the opatch lsinventory -detail command to list the contents of the inventory and see section "Recovering from inventory corruption" in the Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide for information on fixing the issue.

  • Oracle home is cloned without completing the inventory steps.

  • There is bad inventory.

  • Inventory is not available but it is created when the Oracle Enterprise Manager Agent is installed in a separate Oracle home.

D.7 Cleaning Up After a Failed Installation

If an installation fails, you must remove files that Oracle Universal Installer created during the attempted installation and remove the Oracle home directory. Follow the instructions in Chapter 5, "Removing Oracle Database Client Software" to run Oracle Universal Installer to deinstall Oracle Database Client, manually remove the Oracle directory, and remove Oracle from the Registry Editor keys. Afterwards, reinstall the software.