It's signalling a 'ORA-214' during instance startup, which is really bad.
$ oerr ORA 214
00214, 00000, "control file '%s' version %s inconsistent with file '%s' version %s"
// *Cause: An inconsistent set of control files, datafiles/logfiles, and redo
// files was used.
// *Action: Use a consistant set of control files, datafiles/logfiles, and redo
// log files. That is, all the files must be for the same database
// and from the same time period.
In other words, one of your control files might be corrupted. They are supposed to be identical.
To fix this, we'll try each control file in turn to see if the database starts OK with it.
Follow this step-by-step, to the letter. MAKE SURE YOU BACK THEM UP, AS BELOW. You have been warned.
Make a backup of BOTH control files to a location of your choice.
EG:
copy C:\APP\NICO\ORADATA\ORCL\CONTROL01.CTL C:\TMP\CONTROL01.CTL
copy C:\APP\NICO\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL\CONTROL02.CTL C:\TMP\CONTROL02.CTL
Next, make sure the database isn't up:
$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.4.0 Production on Tue Mar 10 19:14:49 2015
Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, Oracle Label Security, OLAP, Data Mining
and Real Application Testing options
SQL> shutdown abort;
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL>
Now we'll overwrite the first control file with the second one, then attempt to start the database:
copy C:\TMP\CONTROL02.CTL C:\APP\NICO\ORADATA\ORCL\CONTROL01.CTL
Now try and start the database:
$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.4.0 Production on Tue Mar 10 19:15:54 2015
Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 822579200 bytes
Fixed Size 2257720 bytes
Variable Size 255855816 bytes
Database Buffers 557842432 bytes
Redo Buffers 6623232 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.
SQL>
If it says Database opened and doesn't throw a ORA- error, it's fixed.
If it throws another ORA-214 or a message about a bad control file, we need to try the other control file. To do that, make sure the database is down (as above), then copy the other control file and try the startup again:
copy C:\TMP\CONTROL01.CTL C:\APP\NICO\ORADATA\ORCL\CONTROL01.CTL
copy C:\TMP\CONTROL01.CTL C:\APP\NICO\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL\CONTROL02.CTL
Note that this would have been easier to fix with 3 control files, as you could have md5'ed each one to find out which was the bad apple.
If the above doesn't work, you have further problems - if so, edit your question with the error message presented by SQL*Plus, and from the end of the alert log.
I cannot reinforce how important it is that you backup the two control files somewhere safe before trying the above!
It's entirely possible that there's another problem with a data file or redo log file, but we'll try this first.
Best Answer
If you are running XE on windows the folder delimiters have to be consistent Instead of
Use
The best suggestion is from thatJeffSmith. Use the prebuilt VM's from Oracle in their VM product Virtual Box
Also you can see if your Oracle is successfully installed by finding services.msc and looking for a windows service with Oracle in the name. There should be a listener and a database service. The database service has to be running before you can connect from your windows vm and the listener has to be up to connect from other devices.