Recently, while applying a patch on an Oracle 12c (12.2.0.1)
database on Windows, I ran into a frustrating issue: datapatch kept failing
with cryptic errors.
|
D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome\bin>D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome\OPatch\datapatch
-verbose SQL Patching
tool version 12.2.0.1.0 Production on Fri Sep 12 09:11:37 2025 Copyright (c)
2012, 2021, Oracle. All rights
reserved. Log file for
this invocation:
D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome\cfgtoollogs\sqlpatch\sqlpatch_5332_2025_09_12_09_11_37\sqlpatch_invocation.log Connecting to
database... Connection
using O/S authentication failed. Enter userid
that can connect as SYSDBA: sys Enter
password for sys: Connecting to
database...OK catconInit
failed, exiting Please refer
to MOS Note 1609718.1 and/or the invocation log D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome\cfgtoollogs\sqlpatch\sqlpatch_5332_2025_09_12_09_11_37\sqlpatch_invocation.log for
information on how to resolve the above errors. |
After verifying the logs pointed to catcon.pl and
sqlpatch_catcon_*.log, the real culprit
turned out to be something deceptively simple — the wrong SQL*Plus version was
being used.
|
SQL*Plus:
Release 10.1.0.5.0 - Production ORA-12560:
TNS:protocol adapter error SP2-0640: Not
connected |
This was strange because I was patching a 12.2
database — why would it use a 10.1 client?
Root Cause:-
On Windows, datapatch invokes SQL*Plus internally via catcon.pl.
It will pick up the first sqlplus.exe it finds in the system PATH.
To verify this I ran in cmd
|
D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome\bin>where
sqlplus D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome\bin\sqlplus.exe ← correct (12.2) D:\oracle\developer\BIN\sqlplus.exe ← wrong (10.1, Oracle Developer 10g) |
Since the Developer 10g client was earlier in the PATH, datapatch
tried to use that. And of course, a 10g SQL*Plus cannot talk to a 12c database.
1. Quick Fix (per session)
Run these commands in your Command Prompt before executing datapatch:
|
set
ORACLE_HOME=D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome set
ORACLE_SID=ORCL set
PATH=%ORACLE_HOME%\bin;%PATH% cd
%ORACLE_HOME%\OPatch datapatch
-verbose |
This forces Windows to use the 12.2 SQL*Plus first and the datapatch
was successful.
2. Permanent Fix (system-wide)
- Go
to System Properties → Environment Variables
- Edit
the PATH variable
|
Move D:\oracle\product\12.2.0\dbhome\bin above: D:\oracle\developer\BIN Or remove the old Developer path
completely if you no longer need it. |
