5 Issues Affecting Microsoft Windows for Oracle Database 18c

These topics contain last-minute features and changes for Microsoft Windows for Oracle Database 18c.

• Unsupported Products for Microsoft Windows
  There are no unsupported Microsoft Windows-specific products at this time.
• Product Support
  This is the supported product or feature for Oracle Database 18c.
• Linking Applications with Oracle Client Libraries for Microsoft Windows
  You must use the dynamic Oracle client libraries to link the client code on Microsoft Windows. 
• Preinstallation Requirements for Microsoft Windows
  Refer to the installation guides for the preinstallation requirements for Oracle Database 18c.
• Installation, Configuration, and Upgrade Issues for Microsoft Windows
  These topics describe information about issues that affect Oracle Database installation, configuration, and upgrade.

5.1 Unsupported Products for Microsoft Windows

There are no unsupported Microsoft Windows-specific products at this time.

Refer to the list of unavailable products or features for all platforms in Oracle Database 18c.

See Also:

Features Not Available or Restricted

5.2 Product Support

This is the supported product or feature for Oracle Database 18c.

• Oracle ACFS and Oracle ADVM Support

  Although Oracle ADVM supports raw disks in Oracle Automatic Storage Management disk groups, Oracle ADVM device special files created through raw are not supported; Oracle ADVM only supports block device special files.

  For the latest information about supported platforms and releases, see the Note 1369107.1 on My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com

5.3 Linking Applications with Oracle Client Libraries for Microsoft Windows

You must use the dynamic Oracle client libraries to link the client code on Microsoft Windows. 

Do not link the static Oracle client libraries.

5.4 Preinstallation Requirements for Microsoft Windows

Refer to the installation guides for the preinstallation requirements for Oracle Database 18c.

5.5 Installation, Configuration, and Upgrade Issues for Microsoft Windows

These topics describe information about issues that affect Oracle Database installation, configuration, and upgrade.

• Bug 20918120
  
• Bug 21325903
  
• Bug 22579138
  
• Bug 23630511
  
• Bug 27421278
  
• Bug 28190735
  
• Bug 28340338
  
• Bug 28377614
  
• Bug 28430201
  

5.5.1 Bug 20918120

Installing Oracle Real Application Clusters Database home with a Group Managed Services Account (gMSA) as the Oracle home user, fails with the following error if the gMSA name consists of more than 15 characters (including the domain name):

[INS-32101] Specified Oracle Home user does not exist

Workaround:

Use a gMSA name (including the domain name) that consists of less than 15 characters.

5.5.2 Bug 21325903

The deinstallation operation fails to remove Oracle home and displays file in use errors because the services and processes running from Oracle home are not removed completely before Oracle home removal.

Workaround:

Manually remove the Oracle home.

5.5.3 Bug 22579138

When installing the Oracle Database Examples software on an Oracle Database Client home (32-bit), you encounter the following error:

SEVERE: [FATAL] [INS-52001] Oracle Database Examples can only be installed into an existing Oracle Database Home of version 12.2.0.1.0.

Workaround:

Restart the Oracle Database Examples installer with the -skipOHCOmpatibilityCheck switch and proceed with the installation.

5.5.4 Bug 23630511

If you run the deinstallation tool from the 12.2 installation media to remove the Oracle software from an existing 11.2.0.4 Oracle home, then the deinstallation tool stops responding.

Workaround:

Ensure that you run the deinstallation tool from the same release to remove the Oracle software. You should not run the deinstallation tool from a later release to remove the Oracle software from an earlier release.

5.5.5 Bug 27421278

During an Oracle Grid Infrastructure upgrade on Microsoft Windows Server 2012, if the DLL path is set to an unexpected value, then the upgrade fails with an ASMCMD-8102 error.

Workaround:

Perform the following steps:

1. Exit out of the installer, if running.

2. Manually upgrade Oracle Grid Infrastructure by running gridSetup.bat -upgrade on all nodes.

3. After the completion of step 2 on all nodes, launch the installer to run the configuration tools by running gridSetup.bat -executeConfigTools.

5.5.6 Bug 28190735

In the absence of the necessary domain access privileges, Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database installers cannot verify if the specified Oracle Home User is an administrator in each of the nodes in the following scenarios:

1. Install user is a local user and Oracle Home User belongs to a domain.

2. Install user is a domain user, but belongs to a domain different from that of the Oracle Home User, and the domains involved do not have the required trust relationships between them.

If the Oracle Home user directly belongs to the Administrators group, then the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installer detects and flags an error. If the Oracle Home User belongs to the Administrators group through an indirect group membership, where the Oracle Home User belongs to a domain group, that is indirectly part of the Administrators group, then the Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database installers fail to detect such indirect membership to the Administrators group in the absence of the necessary domain access privileges, and allow the installation to continue. The installer proceeds to the next step after writing the following log in the installActions<date-time>.out file:

PRCZ-1007 : Unable to determine if user "<domain Oracle Home User>” has Windows administrator authority. 
WSE-000015: Unable to get list of groups to which the user belongs. 
O/S-Error: (OS 5) Access is denied.

Workaround:

Verify and ensure that the chosen Oracle Home User is not an administrator, even by indirect membership to the Administrators group in any of the nodes. Ignore the prerequisite check failure "Verify Oracle Home Service User" and proceed with the installation.

5.5.7 Bug 28340338

Start Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to create database using TypicalModeUI page on an Oracle home installed on Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS). If you change the storage type from Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) to File System (FS), then DBCA initializes the default value for the database file and Fast Recovery Area (FRA) location. If you create the database without changing the default value, then the following error occurs:

PRCT-1121 : Execution of acfsutil failed on local node with result acfsutil info fs: CLSU-00107: operating system function: NtCreateFile; failed with error data: 2; at location: OOF2_2”. 

Workaround:

Enter the correct location value in Database files location and Fast Recovery Area (FRA) after changing the storage type combo box from Oracle ASM to File System (FS) in TypicalModeUI page.

5.5.8 Bug 28377614

During an upgrade from Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 2 (12.2) to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 18c, or downgrade from Oracle Grid Infrastructure 18c to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 2 (12.2), Cluster Health Monitor (CHM) is not usable and returns the following error:

CRS-9125-Error dumpnodeview: Node name rws00gdk is unknown or invalid.

Workaround:

If CHM does not work during an upgrade from Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 2 (12.2) to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 18c, then perform these steps:

1. Stop crf resource on all nodes using crsctl stop res ora.crf -init.   

2. Run the following commands on all nodes in a cluster:

   rm $ORACLE_BASE\crsdata\<hostname>\crf\db\json\localdump.hdr

   rm $ORACLE_BASE\crsdata\<hostname>\crf\db\proc\localdump.hdr

3. Start crf resource on all nodes using crsctl start res ora.crf -init.

      

If CHM does not work during a downgrade from Oracle Grid Infrastructure 18c to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 2 (12.2), then perform these steps:

1. Stop crf resource on all nodes using crsctl stop res ora.crf -init.   

2. Run the following commands on all nodes in a cluster:

   rm $ORACLE_HOME\crf\db\<hostname>\json\localdump.hdr

   rm $ORACLE_HOME\crf\db\<hostname>\proc\localdump.hdr 

3. Start crf resource on all nodes using crsctl start res ora.crf -init.

5.5.9 Bug 28430201

This issue is specific to Oracle Database 18c 32-bit Client and not Oracle Database 18c 64-bit Server and Oracle Database 18c 64-bit Client. Oracle Database 18c 32-bit Client requires Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 runtime. During installation, the installer installs a runtime based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Update 4, version 12.0.30501. The latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 is Update 5, version 12.0.40660.

Workaround:

Download and install the latest Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x86) - 12.0.40660 for Oracle Database 18c 32-bit Client from https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/3179560/update-for-visual-c-2013-and-visual-c-redistributable-package.

The installer installs the latest version Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Update 5, version 12.0.40660 by replacing Microsoft Visual Stuido 2013 Update 4, version 12.0.30501 that comes with Oracle Database 18c Client installer.