Install Oracle Client from command line without user-interaction

Question

I am looking for a way to install Oracle client on Windows but running from command line. In order to run it automatically there shall be no user-interaction.

The Oracle documentation is quite sparse for command line options of Oracle Universal Installer. Even when running the setup as setup.exe -silent -responseFile filename.rsp the user has to press ENTER at certain point.

Solution

After some investigations I found out how to get the full command line options:

setup.exe -help

This works for version 11.2, 12.1 and 12.2. In version 18c and 19c this does work not anymore, instead you have to execute:

setup.exe -help -silent

Here the example output of an 18c setup:

Usage:  setup.exe [<flag>] [<option>]
Following are the possible flags:
    -help - display help.
    -silent - run in silent mode. The inputs can be a response file or a list of command line variable value pairs.
            [-ignorePrereqFailure - ignore all prerequisite checks failures.]
            [-lenientInstallMode - perform the best effort installation by automatically ignoring invalid data in input parameters.]
            [-showProgress - show the installation progress on the console. This option is supported for silent mode installation only.]
    -responseFile - specify the complete path of the response file to use.
    -invPtrLoc - point to a different inventory location. The orainst.loc file contains the location of the central inventory (inventory_loc) and the inventory group (inst_group).
    -jreLoc - specify the location for the jre used in the installation.
    -logLevel - enable the log of messages up to the priority level provided in this argument. Valid options are: severe, warning, info, config, fine, finer, finest.
    -paramFile - specify the location of the oraparam.ini file to be used in the installation.
    -executePrereqs | -executeConfigTools | -deinstall
    -executePrereqs - execute the prerequisite checks only.
    -executeConfigTools - execute the config tools for an installed home.
            [-all - execute all the config tools for an installed home, including the config tools that have already succeeded.]
    -deinstall - uninstall the specified home.
    -debug - run in debug mode.
    -executeSysPrereqs - execute the system prerequisite checks and exit.
    -ignoreSysPrereqs - ignore the results of the system prerequisite checks.
    -printdiskusage - log the debug information for the disk usage.
    -printmemory - log the debug information for the memory usage.
    -printtime - log the debug information for the time usage.
    -waitForCompletion - wait for the completion of the installation, instead of spawning the installer and returning the console prompt.
    -suppressPreCopyScript - suppress the execution of the precopy script.
    -acceptUntrustedCertificates - accept untrusted certificates from a secure site.
    -suppressPostCopyScript - suppress the execution of the postcopy script.
    -noconfig - do not execute the config tools.
    -noconsole - suppress the display of messages in the console. The console is not allocated.
    -ignoreInternalDriverError - ignore any internal driver errors.
    -promptForPassword - provide the passwords on the console during a silent installation of an Oracle database.
    -remotecp - specify the path to the remote copy program on the local cluster node. Used only for cluster installs.
    -remoteshell - specify the path to the remote shell program on the local cluster node. Used only for cluster installs.

Finally I managed to run full setup with single command even without a Response file which can be executed by a software deployment system. Here are some examples (needs to be in a single line):

setup.exe -silent -nowait -ignoreSysPrereqs -ignorePrereq -waitforcompletion -force \
   "INVENTORY_LOCATION=C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory" \
   "ORACLE_BASE=c:\oracle\product" \
   "ORACLE_HOME=c:\oracle\product\12.1\Client_x64" \
   "SELECTED_LANGUAGES=de,en,fr,it" \
   "oracle.install.IsBuiltInAccount=true" \
   "oracle.install.client.installType=Custom" \
   "oracle.install.client.customComponents=oracle.rdbms.util:12.1.0.2.0,oracle.sqlplus:12.1.0.2.0,oracle.odbc:12.1.0.2.0"


setup.exe -silent -nowait -ignoreSysPrereqs -ignorePrereqFailure -skipPrereqs -waitForCompletion -force \
   "INVENTORY_LOCATION=C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory" \
   "ORACLE_BASE=c:\oracle\product" \
   "ORACLE_HOME=c:\oracle\product\12.2\Client_x64" \
   "oracle.install.IsBuiltInAccount=true" \
   "oracle.install.client.installType=Custom" \
   "oracle.install.client.customComponents=oracle.rdbms.util:12.2.0.1.0,oracle.sqlplus:12.2.0.1.0,oracle.odbc:12.2.0.1.0"


setup.exe -silent -nowait -ignoreSysPrereqs -ignorePrereqFailure -waitForCompletion -force \
   "ORACLE_BASE=c:\oracle\product" \
   "ORACLE_HOME=c:\oracle\product\18c\Client_x86" \
   "oracle.install.IsBuiltInAccount=true" \
   "oracle.install.client.installType=Custom" \
   "oracle.install.client.customComponents=oracle.rdbms.util:18.0.0.0.0,oracle.sqlplus:18.0.0.0.0,oracle.odbc:18.0.0.0.0"

Note, option -nowait is not mentioned in help but required to suppress prompt "Press ENTER to close the program".

Option -force is not mentioned in help of version 12.2 and newer but seems to be still valid to force installation in non-empty directory

Apparently 18c 32-bit installer does not like option "INVENTORY_LOCATION=C:\Program Files (x86)\Oracle\Inventory", skip this entry. Using "INVENTORY_LOCATION=C:\PROGRA~2\Oracle\Inventory" causes an exception for lock files in c:\Program Files (x86)\Oracle\Inventory\locks\

Comments

[Wernfried Domscheit]

I am not sure, but I think when you install "Administrator" version, then you cannot specify any custom components (they might be ignored)

[Admin]

how can i keep cursor in same line till the installation completes. In my case, after given the statement in Command Prompt, I need to press enter. Then it starts to install and cursor moves to next line. Offcourse Setup is running. But how to control the cursor rather moving to next line?

[Wernfried Domscheit]

Do you really care about the cursor position? I don't think you can control that.

[Admin]

I am trying to "Installing Oracle Client in Windows Container" which is not happening. I thought the issue with Command Position. As soon as the cursor coming to new position, Setup.exe running for a minute and stoping.

[Wernfried Domscheit]

Maybe try option -force

[Admin]

Tried below: still no luck. setup.exe -silent -nowait -ignoreSysPrereqs -ignorePrereq -waitForCompletion \ -force "INVENTORY_LOCATION=C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory" \ "ORACLE_BASE=c:\oracle\product" "ORACLE_HOME=c:\oracle\product\12.2\Client_x64" \ "oracle.install.IsBuiltInAccount=true" \ "oracle.install.client.installType=Administrator" \ "oracle.install.client.customComponents=oracle.rdbms.util:12‌​.2.0.1.0,oracle.sqlp‌​lus:12.2.0.1.0,oracl‌​e.odbc:12.2.0.1.0"