Oracle Database Discussions

Hi to all.

I found this issue in several places, including this forum, but I never saw a working proposal for a satisfying solution. Installing Oracle Patch 9.2.0.5 over a 9.2.0.1-Installation on XP Pro, I was confronted with a "Stop Running Services" screen, that listed ALL running Windows Services, even the most basic ones, which are required for a working OS and cannot/should not be stopped. Of course I had stopped the Oracle listener and instance services (including the recovery service, omtsreco.exe).

I found using TASKLIST.EXE or LISTDLLS.EXE, that many Oracle DLLs like ORAPLS9.DLL were used by a command "svchost -k netsvcs". But I could not find out, where and for what reason this command is launched and how I can prevent this launching without hazarding the system. The string "netsvcs" can not be found in the registry, for instance.

At least, somehow I managed to do the job, but I cannot exactly recall all the steps I took! At the "Stop Running Services" screen I chose "Abort current component and continue installation", and after install finished (it said something like "install finished with errors" or that like), I was left with a non-functioning Oracle client. Whopee! It told me "Bad function entry point" when I tried to start SQL*Plus. Desperately, I started the patch installation a second time. THIS time I installed OUI 10.1.0.2 as a first step (which I did NOT during the first round), and then started patch install. Strangely, this time I was presented another flow of dialogs (Sorry, but I missed to make notes about the exact titles and the dialog flow), which took MUCH MUCH longer ("Analyzing Dependencies" for example, took 1.5 hours to complete), and I really do not know, how or whether I was confronted with a "Stop Running Services" issue), but after all I really managed to complete the second try successfully, and the client functions worked again (SQL*Plus reported the correct version, 9.2.0.5).

Before I'm driven through this hell again (I have to patch several workstations running 9.2.0.1), I'd like to know,

- Whether the issue has been solved, that the "Stop Running Services Screen" lists
most basic services like "Event Manager". Could it have been caused by using the
wrong OUI version or under what circumstances will it appear?

- Secondly, what is this mysterious "svchost -k netsvcs" (netsvcs = NETSerViCeS ?)
locking many of the DLL files in the Oracle "BIN" folder. It is definitely NOT
one of the Oracle listener or instance services (all of which start with "Oracle").
How can this service be disabled or be prevented from loading the Oracle DLLs?

Sorry for the long story and partially unclear details, since I do not recall all of the long installation session. Any input is welcome.

Werner