My Oracle Support Banner

Troubleshooting SPFILEs and PFILEs (Doc ID 293698.1)

Last updated on JANUARY 28, 2024

Applies to:

Oracle Database Cloud Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Backup Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database - Enterprise Edition - Version 9.2.0.8 to 12.2.0.1 [Release 9.2 to 12.2]
Oracle Database Cloud Schema Service - Version N/A and later
Gen 1 Exadata Cloud at Customer (Oracle Exadata Database Cloud Machine) - Version N/A and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Purpose

Prior to Oracle9i, Oracle instances were always started using a text initialization parameter file or init<SID>.ora, also referred to as a PFILE(Parameter File). Starting in Oracle9i, Oracle introduced a server parameter file or 'SPFILE', which is a binary file stored on the database server. Changes applied to the instance parameters may be persistent accross all startup/shutdown procedures. From Oracle 9i onwards, you can start up the instance using either an spfile or an init.ora/pfile. 

This document provides links that address the following:

   1. Starting up with an SPFILE or PFILE
   2. Manipulating SPFILE contents with the ALTER SYSTEM Command
   3. Creating an SPFILE and/or PFILE
   4. Miscellaneous Issues/Errors using SPFILE
        - Recovering from loss/manual modification of SPFILE
        - Windows specific documents
        - Miscellaneous Issues


Troubleshooting Steps

To view full details, sign in with your My Oracle Support account.

Don't have a My Oracle Support account? Click to get started!

My Oracle Support provides customers with access to over a million knowledge articles and a vibrant support community of peers and Oracle experts.