Table of Contents
This article will show you how to Fix “Opatch failed with error code 73” issue. An important problem exists within Oracle’s patching system, as indicated by the OPatch Failed with Error Code 73 error. One of the most important tools that Oracle uses is called OPatch, and its purpose is to protect its products from any potential security flaws and to improve the functionality of those products. The Oracle Corporation is responsible for the development of the widely used Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) known as Oracle.
It is utilised extensively all over the world; however, there have been instances where administrators have encountered OPatch failed with error code 73 while installing a patch or while upgrading Oracle. For certain updates, the problem has been reported by a large number of people; however, the inability to apply interim patches is typically caused by a problem that occurs on the end of the user.
One of the most well-known and respected names in the software industry, Oracle is renowned for producing commercial products that are dependable in the field. Nevertheless, even the most dependable software or hardware deployments require updates on occasion, and software and hardware installations do not always proceed without a hitch. The “Opatch failed with error code 73” error, the reasons that it occurred, and the solutions that you can implement to know how to Fix “Opatch failed with error code 73” issue.
What are the causes of “Opatch failed with error code 73” issue
- Insufficient Permissions: The person running the patch might not have enough rights to see or change some files or directories that are needed for the process.
- Locked Files: Some files that are needed for patching might be in use or locked by other processes, which would make it impossible to apply the patch correctly.
- Environment That Is Not Compatible: The environment might not meet the patch’s requirements for compatibility or prerequisites. This can include software components that are missing or in the wrong version.
- When software is installed or patches are applied, if the process is interrupted or not finished, it can cause problems when patches are applied again.
- Corrupted Files: Patch files that aren’t working right can lead to problems during the patching process. Some downloads might not finish or there could be a problem with the transmission.
- Conflict with Existing Patches: If the patch being applied conflicts with other patches or changes that have already been made to the system, the patching process may fail.
- Incorrect Patch Version: Error code 73 can happen if you try to apply a patch that isn’t meant for the current version or release of the software.
How to Fix “Opatch failed with error code 73” issue
Review Patch Documentation

- Refer to the documentation accompanying the patch you’re attempting to apply.
- It often contains valuable insights into potential issues, prerequisites, and troubleshooting steps specific to the patch.
- Pay close attention to any special instructions or known issues mentioned in the documentation.
Check Prerequisites
- Ensure your system meets all prerequisites specified for the patch, including compatible software versions, required patches or updates, and sufficient system resources.
- Failure to meet these prerequisites can lead to errors during the patching process.
Verify Patch Integrity
- Confirm that the patch files were downloaded correctly and are intact.
- Use checksums provided by Oracle to validate the integrity of the patch files.
- Even a minor corruption during download can cause the patch application to fail with error code 73.
Review Permissions
- Check the file and directory permissions required for patch application.
- Ensure that the user executing the patching process has the necessary permissions to access and modify the relevant files and directories.
- Inadequate permissions can lead to errors during patch application.
Resolve Conflicts
- Identify any conflicts with existing configurations, software components, or patches.
- Review system logs and error messages for clues about potential conflicts or dependencies that may be causing the error.
- Address any conflicts by modifying configurations or resolving dependencies.
Retry Patch Application
- Address any identified issues.
- Retry the patch application process.
- Ensure that all necessary prerequisites are met.
- Ensure the system is in a stable state.
- Attempt to apply the patch again.
- Monitor the process closely for any errors or warnings.
Seek Assistance
- Unable to resolve issue independently? Seek assistance from Oracle support or community forums.
- Provide detailed information about the error, steps taken, and relevant system configurations for troubleshooting.
Conclusion
Errors that occur during software updates can be extremely frustrating, particularly when dealing with critical patches such as those that are applied by Oracle’s Opatch utility. Users are frequently confronted with the error message “Opatch failed with error code 73,” which indicates that there is a problem that needs to be resolved as soon as possible in order to guarantee the stability and security of the system. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the entire process of troubleshooting and fixing this problem in an efficient manner.
Questions and Answers
The opatch utility is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/Opatch directory, which you can access manually. In order to obtain a list of the interim patches that have been applied, execute the opatch lsinventory command. For the purpose of extracting the additional One-Off Patches that have been applied to a particular Oracle Home, the lsinventory output file comes in handy.
Rollback Job can be accessed by going to Jobs > Windows > Create Job and clicking on it. The next step is to select assets or asset tags from which to roll back the patches, after which you will provide a job title. It is important to note that patches are only rolled back on the selected tags for assets that are within the user’s scope (scope).
Make use of the opatchauto apply command in conjunction with the rolling patch plan in order to apply a Zero Downtime (ZDT) patch. While this command is identical to opatchauto apply -analyse, the only difference is that when you are ready to apply the patch, you remove the -analyse argument from the command.