Brian, Take the subject of this message, without the "RE: ", put quotes around it, and do a MetaLink search. You should see 4 different documents, all apparently relevant. -Mark PS The error has to do with the contents of the patch directory being corrupt or incomplete. See MetaLink for the details. -- Mark J. Bobak Senior Database Administrator, System & Product Technologies ProQuest 789 E. Eisenhower, Parkway, P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 734.997.4059 or 800.521.0600 x 4059 mark.bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:mark.bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> www.proquest.com <http://www.proquest.com/> www.csa.com <http://www.csa.com/> ProQuest...Start here. ________________________________ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Brian Lock Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 2:37 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: The patch directory area must be a number While trying to applying the latest patch to 9i, we are receiving this error. Any ideas on what may be causing this? Thankd Brian