Creating a Clean Machine (v.8.1)

In rare situations, some users may want to correct serious system problems by completely removing Oracle products from their system. This is not recommended as an easy way to fix problems, especially common ones. Only create a Clean Machine as a last resort, and only if you want to remove all Oracle products from your system. Complete the following steps to create a Clean Machine.

Note: The following Clean Machine instructions assume an OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) structure.

Warning: This will remove all Oracle products, Oracle services, and Oracle registry entries from your computer.

On Windows NT:

    1. Ensure you are logged in as a user with Administrator privileges.

    2. Using regedit (at the command prompt, type regedit), go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE and delete the ORACLE key.

    3. Delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\odbc.

    4 Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services, and remove all keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services that begin with ORACLE.

     
    5. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application, and remove all keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application that begin with ORACLE.

    6. Close regedit.

    7. From the Control Panel, open System.

    8. If JRE was installed by Oracle, remove the %ORACLE_HOME%\BIN path and the JRE path. For example, you may see a path similar to this one: C: \ORACLE\ORA81\BIN;G: \Program Files\Oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin. Go to Start > Control Panel > System > Environment tab. Click on the system variable path and modify the path.

    9. Delete Icons from <system_drive>: \Winnt\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Oracle - <HOME> and <system_drive>: \Winnt\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Oracle Installation Products. Where <HOME> is the previous HOME name.

    10. Delete <system_drive>: \Program Files\Oracle (from the Windows NT Explorer or from the command prompt).

    11. Reboot your computer.

    12. Delete all ORACLE_BASE directories (You can find the Oracle homes listed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\ORACLE_HOMES).





Removing Oracle Keys From the Registry on Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP (v.9.2)

In rare situations, you may want to correct serious system problems by completely removing Oracle components from the computer.

Remove all Oracle components from your computer only as a last resort, and only if you want to remove all Oracle components from your system.

Oracle Universal Installer does not delete services created by Oracle Net Configuration Assistant, OiD Configuration Assistant, and Database Configuration Assistant. In addition, several other registry keys are not deleted.


Note:

You can also use the ORADIM utility to manually deinstall an instance and services. See "Postinstallation Database Creation" of Oracle9i Database Administrator's Guide for Windows.



Caution:

Use Microsoft Registry Editor at your own risk. Incorrect usage of Registry Editor can cause serious problems and may require reinstallation of your operating system.


To remove the Oracle Net Service registry entry on Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP:

  1. Log in as a member of the Administrators group.

  2. Ensure that you first follow the instructions in "Stopping Oracle Services on Windows Platforms".

  3. Start the registry at the MS-DOS command prompt:

    C:\> regedt32
    
    
  4. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and delete the OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener registry entry. Oracle Universal Installer automatically deletes all other Oracle Net Services.

  5. Exit the registry.

To remove all Oracle components from a computer on Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP:


Caution:

These instructions remove all Oracle components, services, and registry entries from your computer. In addition, any database files under ORACLE_BASE\oradata\DB_NAME are also removed. Exercise extreme care when removing registry entries. Removing incorrect entries can break your system.


  1. Log in as a member of the Administrators group.

  2. Ensure that you first follow the instructions in "Stopping Oracle Services on Windows Platforms".

  3. Start the registry at the MS-DOS command prompt:

    C:\> regedt32
    
    
  4. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.

  5. Delete any key that starts with Oracle, ORA, or ORCL.

  6. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE.

  7. Delete the ORACLE and Apache Group keys.

  8. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.

  9. Delete all keys under here that begin with ORACLE.

  10. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services \Eventlog\Application.

  11. Delete all keys under here that begin with ORACLE.

  12. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

  13. Delete ORACLE.

  14. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ORACLE.

  15. Delete keys that start with Oracle or ORCL (if any exist).

  16. Delete any Oracle keys (if any exist).

  17. Close the registry.

  18. Restart your computer.

Update the System Variable Path

  1. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Environment tab.

  2. Choose the system variable path and modify the Path variable.

  3. Remove any Oracle entries from the path. For example, if JRE was installed by Oracle, remove the %ORACLE_HOME%\BIN path and the JRE path. You may see a path similar to this one:

    C:\oracle\ora81\bin;C:\program files\oracle\jre\1.1.7\bin 
    
    
  4. Exit the Control Panel.

Remove Oracle from the Start Menu

  1. Go to SYSTEM_DRIVE:\winnt\profiles\all users\start menu\programs.

  2. Delete the following icons:

  3. Delete SYSTEM_DRIVE:\program files\oracle through Windows Explorer.

  4. Delete all ORACLE_BASE directories on your hard drive.

  5. Restart your computer.