Re: Oracle Personal Edition Sucks!

From: Jaap W. van Dijk <j.w.vandijk.removethis_at_hetnet.nl>
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 07:14:35 GMT
Message-ID: <4449d614.528125@news.hetnet.nl>

On 19 Apr 2006 23:49:19 -0700, xg_at_oraclexg.com wrote:

>http://codebetter.com/blogs/sahil.malik/archive/2004/08/28/23563.aspx
>wrote:

<snip>
>c) Here's my biggest problem - when I wanted to uninstall Oracle, it
>isn't in add/remove programs like all other friendly citizens of the
>computer world, instead it has it's own crappy java based installer,
>and instead of uninstall they prefer to call it "Deinstall", and
>what's worse in the treeview it shows me, when I check an item to be
>unistalled, the zillions of items under it, are still unchecked - are
>they going to be uninstalled or will they be not? It takes a minimum of
>3-4 hours to individually check everything there is.
>d) When the frickin' "de"-installation is complete, the installer
>remains on the system. But it's group dissappears from my start menu or
>add/remove programs or everywhere. Is there spyware in that?
>e) Talk about all the JUNK that Oracle installed in the first place,
>look at your registry before and after Oracle got done trading the soul
>of your poor PC, it adds many megabytes of information to the registry
>.. what in the world !!!!

<snip>

I'm a Oracle-adept myself, but with regards to uninstalling (sorry, deinstalling) it from Windows I couldn't agree with you more. There's a note on Oracle's Metalink, how to remove all traces, but it's many, many steps. For your benefit I copy it here anyway, so you can check what you've missed. Have fun!

Subject: WIN: Manually Removing all Oracle Components on Microsoft Windows Platforms

  	Doc ID: 	Note:124353.1 	Type: 	REFERENCE
  	Last Revision Date: 	06-FEB-2006 	Status:

PUBLISHED PURPOSE

This article describes the procedure how to manually perform the actions to
create a "clean machine" on Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP and how to
manually remove all Oracle components (e.g.: oracle RDBMS database server,
IAS, OEM, client installations, etc) and services from your computer.

SCOPE & APPLICATION

This article is intended for DBA's on the Microsoft Windows platform.

WARNING:

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.
These instructions remove all Oracle components, services, and registry entries from your computer. In addition, any database files in the subdirectories under ORACLE_BASE\ORADATA\ are also removed.
These procedures will also remove Oracle network configuration files, user written scripts and any other user generated files that may be stored in Oracle_Base directories.
Exercise extreme care when removing registry entries. Removing incorrect entries can severely compromise your computer.

MANUALLY REMOVING ALL ORACLE COMPONENTS AND SERVICES FROM YOUR COMPUTER

Section A (steps 1-6) describes the removal of all Oracle components on
Windows NT,2000 and XP.
Section B (steps 1-4) describes the removal of all Oracle components on
Windows 95 and Windows 98.

Removing Components on Windows NT/2000/XP.
To remove all Oracle components from a computer on Windows NT/2000/XP:
Check privileges:
1.a. Ensure you are logged in as a user with Administrator privileges.
Stop all Oracle services (if any are running):
2.a. NT: Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > Services. 2000,XP: Right click My Computer > Manage > Services and Applications > > Services

2.b. If any Oracle services (their names begin with Oracle) exist and have

the status Started, select the service and click Stop.

2.c. Click Close to exit the Services window.

2.d. Close the Control Panel/Computer Management window.

3. Remove the entries in the Windows registry:

3.a. Start the registry editor:

Choose Start > Run > regedit

     Note: On Windows NT you can use regedt32 instead. The searching 
           capabilities of regedt32 is limited compared to regedit. It
will be
           needed to be able to edit 32-bit entries in the registry.
Since we 
           are not going to update any 32-bit entry it is not needed.


3.b. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE 
     Note the value of the key INST_LOC, this is the location of the 
     Oracle Universal Installer (OUI).  The default location is 
     C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory.  If this value is different,
make 
     note of it, so we can delete these files later.
     Delete this ORACLE key. 

3.c. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC and expand all subkeys and
     remove all keys under here which are related with the
     "Oracle ODBC Driver"

3.d. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and remove

all keys under here that begin with ORACLE or ORAWEB.

3.e. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\...

...\Application and remove all keys under here that begin with ORACLE. 3.f. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\...

...\Uninstall and remove any entries related to Oracle.

3.g. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, remove all keys that begin with Ora or ORCL
(e.g. Oracle..., ORADC..., ORAMMC..., OraOLE..., OraPerf... and ORCL...). 3.h. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes, remove all keys that begin

     with Ora or ORCL
     (e.g. Oracle..., ORADC..., ORAMMC..., OraOLE..., OraPerf... and

ORCL...). 3.i. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Oracle, delete this ORACLE key.

3.j. Go to HKEY_USERS\…\Software\Oracle, delete this ORACLE key.

3.k. Close the registry.

4. Clean up the environment settings:

4.a. NT: Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Environment tab

     2000,XP:  Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > 
     Advanced tab > Environment variables.

4.b. At "System Variables" click on the variable PATH in order to modify

     the value. For example, you may see a path similar to this one: 
     C:\ORACLE\ORA81\BIN;C:\PROGRAM FILES\ORACLE\JRE\1.1.7\BIN

4.c. If an %ORACLE_HOME% was installed, remove this %ORACLE_HOME%\BIN path.

4.d. If JRE was installed by Oracle, remove the JRE path.

4.e. If there is a CLASSPATH variable under "System Variables", first make

note of the path defined, then delete it. This variable can be added

back at a later date if needed.

4.f. Check if there are any other Oracle variables set in "System Variables",

ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, TNS_ADMIN, JSERV or WV_GATEWAY_CFG. If these

exist, delete them also.

4.g. Click on APPLY and OK.

4.h. Close the Control Panel window.

5. Delete the software and icons:

5.a. NT: Choose Start > Programs > Windows NT Explorer.

2000,XP: Choose Start > Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.

5.b. NT: Go to %SystemDrive%\WINNT\PROFILES\ALL USERS\START MENU\PROGRAMS

     2000,XP: Go to %SystemDrive%\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ALL USERS\...
           ...\START MENU\PROGRAMS
       Note 1: These locations depend on whether OS was upgraded from
NT, or 
               this was a fresh install of 2000/XP.
       Note 2: To locate your System Drive, type in DOS-box: echo

%SystemDrive%

     and delete the following icons: 
     - Oracle Installation Products 
     - PRODUCT_NAME - HOME_NAME  e.g.
          Oracle for Windows NT - Dev6i
          Oracle Reports 6i - Dev6i
          Oracle Olap Client 2.2 - Dev6i
          Oracle9i Lite
          Oracle - OraHome92

5.c. Go to %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Oracle or the location of INST_LOC as

     noted earlier in step 3.b. and delete this directory. 
     Note: In order to successfully delete all files, you may have to
reboot
           your computer first, in order to clear Operating System
locks 
           on those files.

5.d. Go to the temporary directory and delete all files and directories in

     here (see note in 5.c.).
     NT: %SystemDrive%\Temp
     2000,XP: 
       %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local

Settings\Temp\

5.e. Go to the drive where the Oracle software is installed on your machine

and delete all ORACLE_BASE directories on your hard drive (see note in

5.c.).

5.f. Close the Windows Explorer / Windows NT Explorer.

6. Finish the removal:

6.a. Empty the recycle bin

Right click on recycle bin > Empty Recycle Bin.

6.b. Reboot your computer.

6.c. Optionally: If you are on Windows 2000 or XP run the System Defragmenter

     utility:
     - from Control Panel, select Administrative Tools > Computer
Management
     - expand Storage, then select Disk Defragmenter
     - highlight each virtual drive, in turn, and click Defragment
     - reboot your computer when finished.

B. Removing Components on Windows 95 or Windows 98.

To remove all Oracle components from a computer on Windows 95/Windows 98:

Remove the entries in the Windows registry:
1.a. Start the registry editor at the MS-DOS command prompt: C:\> REGEDIT

1.b. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE

Note the value of the key INST_LOC, this is the location of the Oracle

     Universal Installer.  The default location is 
     C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory
     If this value is different, make note of it, so we can delete
these files
     later. Delete this ORACLE key. 

1.c. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC and expand all subkeys and
     remove all keys under here which are related with the
     "Oracle ODBC Driver".

1.d. Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

and remove any entries related to Oracle.

1.e. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, remove all keys that begin with Ora or ORCL
(e.g. Oracle..., ORADC..., ORAMMC..., OraOLE..., OraPerf... and ORCL...). 1.f. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes, remove all keys that begin

     with Ora or ORCL
     (e.g. Oracle..., ORADC..., ORAMMC..., OraOLE..., OraPerf... and

ORCL...). 1.g. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Oracle, delete this ORACLE key.

1.h. Go to HKEY_USERS\…\Software\Oracle, delete this ORACLE key.

1.i. Close the registry.

2. Clean up the environment settings:

2.a. Open your AUTOEXEC.BAT with an editor to modify the PATH variable.

     For example, you may see a path similar to this one: 
     C:\ORACLE\ORA81\BIN;G:\PROGRAM FILES\ORACLE\JRE\1.1.7\BIN .

2.b. If an %ORACLE_HOME% was installed, remove this %ORACLE_HOME%\BIN path.

2.c. If there is a CLASSPATH variable set in the AUTOEXEC.BAT, first make note

of the path defined, then delete it. This variable can be added back at

a later date if needed.

2.d. If JRE was installed by Oracle, remove the JRE path.

2.e. Save the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and close the edit.

3. Delete the software and icons:

3.a. Choose Start > Programs > Windows Explorer.

3.b. Go to SYSTEM_DRIVE:\WINDOWS\START MENU\PROGRAMS

     and delete the following icons: 
     - Oracle - HOME_NAME 
       where HOME_NAME is the previous Oracle home name. 
     - Oracle Installation Products

3.c. Go to SYSTEM_DRIVE:\Program Files\Oracle or the location of INST_LOC as

noted earlier in step 1.b and delete this directory.

3.d Go to SYSTEM_DRIVE:\Temp and delete all files and directories in here.

3.e. Go to the drive where the Oracle software is installed on your machine

and delete all ORACLE_BASE directories on your hard drive.

3.f. Remove any Oracle-related .INI files that may exist in the Windows

     directory. The Windows directory may be found by entering 
     "echo %WINDIR%" from a command prompt. 
     Typical Oracle .INI files include ORADIM73.INI, ORADIM80.INI, 
     ORACLE.INI, ORAODBC.INI

3.g. Close the Windows Explorer.

4. Finish the removal:

4.a. Empty the recycle bin

Right click on recycle bin > Empty Recycle Bin

4.b. Reboot your computer. Received on Sat Apr 22 2006 - 02:14:35 CDT