I have created two databases on my Windows XP Pro PC.
Each has it's own SPFILE (and PFILE created from the SPFILES).

I can startup and mount the last created database, but I don't know how to startup/mount the first.
I shutdown the second, and try starting up the first, specifying the relevant PFILE

eg. STARTUP PFILE=h:\....\initdb1.ora

I've even tried to start it up with the relevant SPFILE, by creating a dummy PFILE called temp.ora, containing the single line:

SPFILE=h:\....\spfiledb1.ora

and using the command:

STARTUP PFILE=h:\....\temp.ora

However, whichever method I use, I get error "ORA-1102 cannot mount database in EXCLUSIVE mode".

Is it possoble for me to open different databases on my PC? I 'thought' I would only have to specify the relevant parameter file to direct Oracle to the appropriate database. It seems there is more to it than that!

Cheers,
Don