ORA-65179: cannot keep datafiles for a pluggable database that is not unplugged

You should use “including datafiles” clause while dropping a pluggable database otherwise ORA-65179 would be returned

SQL> drop pluggable database testpdb; drop pluggable database testpdb * ERROR at line 1: ORA-65179: cannot keep datafiles for a pluggable database that is not unplugged

Following is an example of successful execution of DROP command.

SQL> drop pluggable database testpdb including datafiles;   Pluggable database dropped.