Fixing the Blank Screen Issue When Running runInstaller for Oracle 19c on Linux


When installing Oracle Database 19c on Linux, many users encounter a frustrating problem: the installer GUI launches, but the screens appear blank and nothing is displayed. This issue also sometimes happens with tools like DBCA (Database Configuration Assistant) after installation.

What’s Happening?

When you execute:

./runInstaller

the Oracle Universal Installer starts, but instead of seeing the expected GUI screens, you are faced with a blank window. This typically indicates a display rendering problem in the graphical environment — often related to Java, X11, or font rendering issues on your Linux system.

The Simple Fix

To get past the blank screens and successfully launch the Oracle 19c installer, you can set a special Java option that tells the installer not to use a particular rendering pipeline that is problematic on some Linux configurations.

Before running the installer, set this environment variable:

export _JAVA_OPTIONS='-Dsun.java2d.xrender=false'

This effectively disables the problematic 2D rendering on Java and forces a rendering mode that many Linux desktop systems handle correctly. Once this is set, the screens that previously appeared blank will display normally, and you can continue the installation.

Make It Permanent (Optional)

If you want this option to be available every time you log in, you can place it into one of your shell startup files like this:

echo "export _JAVA_OPTIONS='-Dsun.java2d.xrender=false'" 
>> ~/.bash_profile


After doing that, reload your profile or start a new shell:
source ~/.bash_profile

Now, every time you open a terminal, the Java rendering fix will already be in place.







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