ORA-38781: cannot disable media recovery - have guaranteed restore points

 Scenario:- While trying to disable archivelog, following error is reported.

ORA-38781: cannot disable media recovery - have guaranteed restore points

Solution:-

Current environment details :-

OS	OEL 6.9
DB SID	Ora12c
DB Version	12.1.0.2 EE

SQL> alter database noarchivelog;

alter database noarchivelog

*

ERROR at line 1:

ORA-38781: cannot disable media recovery - have guaranteed restore points

Lets see what oerr utility says about this ora error.

[oracle@server3 u01]$ oerr ora 38781

38781, 00000, "cannot disable media recovery - have guaranteed restore points"

// *Cause: An attempt was made to disable media recovery while there is at

//         least one guaranteed restore point.

// *Action: Drop all guaranteed restore points and then disable media recovery.

SQL> select open_mode from v$database;

OPEN_MODE

--------------------

MOUNTED

SQL> alter database open;

Database altered.

Check the restore points in database.

SQL> select GUARANTEE_FLASHBACK_DATABASE,NAME ,TIME from v$restore_point;

GUARANTEE_FLASHBACK_DATABASE   NAME                           TIME

------------------------------ ------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------

YES                            TESTING                        14-SEP-20 08.56.24.000000000 AM

Check the status of flashback.

SQL> select name,flashback_on from v$database;

NAME                           FLASHBACK_ON

------------------------------ ------------------

ORA12C                         RESTORE POINT ONLY

Now drop the restore point and try disabling the archivelog.

SQL> drop restore point TESTING;

Restore point dropped.

SQL> select name,flashback_on from v$database;

NAME                           FLASHBACK_ON

------------------------------ ------------------

ORA12C                         NO

SQL> shut immediate

Database closed.

Database dismounted.

ORACLE instance shut down.

SQL> startup mount

ORACLE instance started.

SQL> startup mount

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area  629145600 bytes

Fixed Size                  2927528 bytes

Variable Size             482346072 bytes

Database Buffers          138412032 bytes

Redo Buffers                5459968 bytes

Database mounted.

SQL> alter database noarchivelog;

Database altered.

SQL> select log_mode from v$database;

LOG_MODE

------------

NOARCHIVELOG