Oracle Password File 10gr2 & 11gr2

In order to startup an Oracle database, we need to have an Oracle password file or on Operating system authentication.

If the init.ora parameter remote_login_passwordfile is set to exclusive or shared, Oracle will search for a password file to do the authentication.

The default location for an Oracle password file is the %ORACLE_HOME%/database on Windows and $ORACLE_HOME/dbs on Unix flavours.

On windows, the filename should be: PWD%ORACLE_SID%.ora
On Unix, the filename should be: orapw$ORACLE_SID

You can use the orapwd command to create a new password file.

Usage: orapwd file= password= entries= force=

  where

    file - name of password file (mand),

    password - password for SYS (mand),

    entries - maximum number of distinct DBA,

    force - whether to overwrite existing file (opt),

  There are no spaces around the equal-to (=) character.

UNIX syntax:

orapwd file=$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/orapw$ORACLE_SID password=the_secret_password

UNIX example:

orapwd file=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/dbs/orapwkrengerdb password=the_secret_password

Windows syntax:

orapwd file=%ORACLE_HOME%\database\PWD%ORACLE_SID%.ora password=the_secret_password

Windows example:

orapwd file=D:\oracle\app\product\11.2.0\db_1\database\PWDKRENGERDB.ora password=the_secret_password