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Writer's Status is not Stable for Oracle Databases

  • This article is for Windows only
Oracle backup are only supported in version 5.6. If you are unsure about your version, please use these instructions to locate the version of the product you are running.

If you receive an error message stating that a writer's status is not stable while attempting to back up Oracle Databases, it indicates the Database is in No Archivelog mode and is opened in a Read Write state. Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) does not support backing up a database in this configuration.

An event will be logged in the Windows Applications event logs:

       Event Type:     Error
       Event Source:   Oracle.VSSWriter.ORCL
       Event Category: (255)
       Event ID:       44
       Date:           9/7/2012
       Time:           3:57:39 AM
       User:           N/A
       Computer:       ORACLE11G-WIN
       Description:
       VSS-00044: Database in NOARCHIVELOG mode must be in a consistent state for backup.
       
       
       Cause : The database was open read/write or mounted after a SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
       or SHUTDOWN ABORT.
       
       Action : Either mount the database in a consistent state or open it read-only
       to back up the database files.
       
       
       Additional info :
       Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.1.0.6.0 - Production
       Oracle VSS writer version 11.1.0.6.0 Production
       Error at line : 4558
       Failure on PrepareForBackup event

How to Resolve a Writer's Status is not Stable Error

To resolve this problem, follow the steps below:

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Verify the Database Mode and State

To verify the database mode and state:

  1. Open Oracle SQL Plus
  2. Run the following commands
    1. SQLPLUS /NOLOG
    2. CONNECT username/password AS SYSDBA
    3. SELECT log_mode from v$database;
    4. SELECT open_mode FROM v$database;
Mount the Database in Read-Only State

To mount the database in read-only state:

  1. Open Oracle SQL Plus
  2. Run the following commands
    1. SQLPLUS /NOLOG
    2. CONNECT username/password AS SYSDBA
    3. SHUTDOWN
    4. STARTUP MOUNT
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