Opatch Failed With Error Code 21 Apr 2026

Upgraded OPatch to version 13.9.4.2.0. The patch applied successfully. Case Study 2: /tmp Full of Old JAR Extractions Scenario: A middleware admin repeatedly failed with error code 21 on a WebLogic patch. Logs showed "No space left on device" even though df -h /tmp showed 30% free.

Checked inodes: df -i /tmp showed 100% inode usage due to millions of small temporary files. Cleaned /tmp and restarted. Patch succeeded. Case Study 3: Stale Inventory Lock After Power Outage Scenario: A power failure interrupted an OPatch session. After reboot, every OPatch command failed with error code 21.

$ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch-YYYY-MM_DD_HH-MM-SS.log Alternatively, you can run OPatch with the -log flag to specify a custom log path. opatch failed with error code 21

rm -rf /u01/app/oraInventory/locks/* Ensure the entire Oracle home is owned by the correct user:

The error message usually appears as:

OPatch failed with error code 21 Or, in more verbose logs:

df -i /tmp df -i $ORACLE_HOME If space or inodes are critically low (e.g., 100% used), free up resources. Check for stale lock files: Upgraded OPatch to version 13

opatch apply -force However, this can lead to unexpected behavior. Always consult the patch README or Oracle Support before forcing a patch. For deep troubleshooting, run:

Open the most recent log file and search for the first occurrence of the word "ERROR" or "SEVERE". The real error often appears several lines before the final "error code 21". Step 2: Check OPatch Version Run: Logs showed "No space left on device" even