Oracle is one of the giants of the software industry known for commercial products that are reliable in the field. However, even the most reliable software or hardware deployments need updates occasionally, and installations don’t always go smoothly.
In this article, we’re talking about the “Opatch failed with error code 73”, the reasons behind it and what you can do to fix the problem.
What causes the “Opatch failed with error code 73” error?
The error is generally triggered when you’re trying to apply a patch with an Oracle product version incompatible with the patch. Other causes include:
- Outdated or corrupted patch files
- Internet or access issues
Also read: How to fix Ene.Sys error after upgrade?
How to fix the “Opatch failed with error code 73” error?
Here are four fixes you can try out.
Try running the patch again
One thing you should do is try running the patch again, except this time with the -ignoreSysPrereqs flag. The flag tells the command to go through with the patch installation even if the patch doesn’t meet the required settings for the product you’re patching.
Run Opatch from the installation directory
You can also run the Opatch command in the installation directory of the product you’re trying to patch. This ensures that the command can fetch the latest available patches for the particular Oracle product you’re using. For example, if you’re using Oracle database, you’d run the following command.
Opatch oracleOpatch will then show you all the available patches for the specified product allowing you to manually choose the patch you want to install and proceed with the installation without any compatibility errors.
Change the ORACLE_HOME environment variable
Another solution you can try is to change the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to the directory where your Oracle product is installed. You can use the export command for this. So for example, if your product installation directory is /app/oracle/program, you’d use the following command
export ORACLE_HOME=/app/oracle/programOnce the environment variable is properly set, try running Opatch again and the problem should be gone.
Manually copy over the patch files
Last but not least, if nothing else works, copy the following files from the patch folder to the folder where your Oracle program is installed.
- opatch.log
- opatch.install
- opatch.license
- opatch.manual
- opatch.properties
- opatch.scripting
- opatch.settings
- opatch.service
- opatch.version
Also read: Fix: Java error: Release version 19 not supported
