Database won’t start because of missing datafile

I had a situation today where my database would not start because “someone” had deleted a datafile. While deleting the datafile at the OS level was probably not a particularly good decision, things like this do happen occasionally, so how to get the database back up?

Here is the error message when the database refused to start:

ORA-01157: cannot identify/lock data file 14 - see DBWR trace file
ORA-01110: data file 14: 'C:\DATABASE\ORADATA\ORCL\CDBWKLW.DBF'

This command is the quickest and easiest way to get rid of the problem:

alter database datafile 'c:\database\oradata\orcl\cdbwklw.dbf' offline drop ;

After this the database will start happily. You may need to drop the tablespace too.

About Mark Nelson

Mark Nelson is a Developer Evangelist at Oracle, focusing on microservices and AI. Mark has served as a Section Leader in Stanford's Code in Place program that has introduced tens of thousands of people to the joy of programming, he is a published author, a reviewer and contributor, a content creator and a lifelong learner. He enjoys traveling, meeting people and learning about foods and cultures of the world. Mark has worked at Oracle since 2006 and before that at IBM since 1994.

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