ORA-1031 with password file authentication

Troubleshooting ORA-1031 with password file authentication

If a local or remote sysdba connection fails with ORA-01031 than consider following factors : 

1. The database parameter remote_login_passwordfile has to be set to either EXCLUSIVE or SHARED . 

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE=EXCLUSIVE SCOPE=SPFILE;

restart the database for the change to take effect. 

2. A password file is created in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs with option " nosysdba=n " . In general the name of the file would be in the format orapw<SID> .
In case of uncertainity recreate the password file using the below syntax : 

$ > orapwd file=$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/orapw<sid> password=<password> force=y nosysdba=n

 restart the database . 

The path to the password file %ORACLE_HOME%\database\PWD%ORACLE_SID%.ORA on a Microsoft Windows machine.