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user8816970 wrote:

EdStevens wrote:

Had to do this just yesterday on a bad client installation. When dealing with a problematic client install, I don't spend much time diagnosing what went wrong or why, I just rip it out by the roots.
1) delete any and all directories named 'oracle' or any slight variant. Looking at my own desktop right now, I see the following:
- c:\app\oracle
- c:\users\estevens\.oracle
- c:\users\estevens\oracle
( I think those in - c:\users\estevens are a vestige of a failed install by corporate tech support when they built my machine. I've since re-installed and apparently failed to get rid of those. By default, that's where oracle wants to install the client, but that can be problematic, especially if the path has spaces in it)
>
>

OK, I did that and did not find any such files.

So where all did you look. The list above was only an example based on MY installation. Actual locations could be just about anywhere, depending on choices you made while running the installation.

Take a look at the ORACLE key in the registry .. You will find pointers there.

The oracle inventory files will probably be under c:\Program Files

EdStevens wrote:

2) open regedit and go to HKLM\software\oracle. Don't delete it YET
2.1) go through every branch of HKLM\software\oracle, and note any references to any directories. Delete all directories mentioned here if they haven't already.
2.2) delete HKLM\software\oracle
>

Whoa! Do I need to uninstall JavaFX and VirtualBox? I see those keys in my HKLM\software\oracle. Don't those have legitimate entries in HKLM\software\oracle?

I've never seen those under any of the installations I've had to remove. My customers are your typical business end-user and don't run VirtualBox. I'd guess you probably need to leave the VB key and remove all the others.

Thanks
Siegfried

user8816970 wrote:

EdStevens wrote:

Had to do this just yesterday on a bad client installation. When dealing with a problematic client install, I don't spend much time diagnosing what went wrong or why, I just rip it out by the roots.
1) delete any and all directories named 'oracle' or any slight variant. Looking at my own desktop right now, I see the following:
- c:\app\oracle
- c:\users\estevens\.oracle
- c:\users\estevens\oracle
( I think those in - c:\users\estevens are a vestige of a failed install by corporate tech support when they built my machine. I've since re-installed and apparently failed to get rid of those. By default, that's where oracle wants to install the client, but that can be problematic, especially if the path has spaces in it)
>
>

OK, I did that and did not find any such files.

EdStevens wrote:

2) open regedit and go to HKLM\software\oracle. Don't delete it YET
2.1) go through every branch of HKLM\software\oracle, and note any references to any directories. Delete all directories mentioned here if they haven't already.
2.2) delete HKLM\software\oracle
>

Whoa! Do I need to uninstall JavaFX and VirtualBox? I see those keys in my HKLM\software\oracle. Don't those have legitimate entries in HKLM\software\oracle?

Just as a second follow up, I've spent the last day working pretty intensely with this procedure, writing up detailed documentation for our own help desk/desktop support team. I was just scrolling down the registry in my personal laptop (where I do have Virtual Box installed) and noticed ..SOFTWARE\ORACLE had only an entry for VB, which I had never seen before, and NO entry for my installed oracle client. Scratched my head quite a bit on that one before I finally noticed I was in HKEY_LOCAL_USER, not HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Looking at my new, freshly installed client on my company desktop, I see the HKLM\SOFTWARE\ORACLE branch has a key for the client, and one labeled ODP.NET. That one always gets whacked as part of my deleting the ORACLE parent. Still haven't seen a JavaFX key anywhere.

Thanks
Siegfried

user8816970 wrote:
Ed,
I also noticed that I have

HKLM\SOFTWARE\ODBC\Microsoft ODBC for Oracle

and

HKLM\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI\Microsoft ODBC for Oracle

Do I need to delete these?

Since they look like they were installed by Microsoft Visual Studio or .NET framework instead of Oracle, I'm reluctant to delete them. What do you think?

You are correct. Those are MS drivers for Oracle --- not Oracle drivers. They are not part of the Oracle installation.

I hope you find some other things for me to check. I still cannot successfully run setup.exe to install the Oracle client. Since I have successfully installed the oracle client as part of my oracle linux VM, I'm thinking I don't have a problem with insufficient hardware.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate, Version 6.1 Service Pack 1. I have lots of disk space and 3GB memory on this desktop computer. I'm running in 32 bit mode.

I had successfully installed Oracle Client 11g on a notebook running Windows XP (or was it Vista? -- I cannot remember) two years ago on a notebook computer running in 64 bit mode.

Thanks
Siegfried

you could follow up on the ML notes that Srini referenced.

The oracle client is so light, as long as you have the necessary disk space I can't imagine there being any hardware issues.

Obviously you know that with a 32-bit OS you need to be installing the 32-bit app.

Let's review the cleanup. I'm referencing the doc I just turned over to my help desk yesterday. In summary:
- In the registry, go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI\ODBC Drivers
- delete the the Oracle drivers - those whose name starts with Oracle - not other vendors drivers for oracle
- go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI
- delete the Oracle keys (on mine, there is only one, between 'ODBC Translator' and 'SQL Server')
- In regedit, navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\ORACLE

Step through the various branches of this key and make note of all directories referenced here.

NOTE: There may be more than one key ‘KEY_OracleClient….’. Be sure to check all of them an note the directories mentioned.

Open Windows Explorer and locate the folders you noted in regedit, above.

Delete all of them

NOTE: The above directories are not the only places to look. This step take a bit of detective work. There is no telling where an inexperienced tech may have placed an installation. Key places to look would be
•     C:\app \<username>
•     C:\Users \<something> - just poke around.

Back in regedit, delete the entire ORACLE branch from HKLM\SOFTWARE (Note: if as you say, under that you have a key for VirtualBox, then leave that and its parent. You can delete everything else under HKLM\SOFTWARE\ORACLE

Remove the Oracle references (not VirtualBox) from the system variable PATH.


When you start to reinstall, keep an eye out for where it wants to install by default. You don't want to install in C:\app\joesnuffy. Change it to c:\app\oracle. And if the location specifies a 'client_2', you didn't get things cleaned out well enough.

Try:

sqlplus user@'hostname_or_ip:port/service_name'

e.g. sqlplus test@'192.168.1.131/orcl' (assuming default port 1521).

user8816970 wrote:
OK, it looks like I'm getting closer.

C:\Users\siegfried>sqlplus /@'192.168.1.131:1521/orcl' as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Sat Oct 20 18:33:17 2012

Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges


Enter user-name:

consider test as normal user; not as sysdba

user8816970 wrote:
OK, it looks like I'm getting closer.

C:\Users\siegfried>sqlplus /@'192.168.1.131:1521/orcl' as sysdba

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Sat Oct 20 18:33:17 2012

Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges


Enter user-name:

You are really making this way more difficult than it is.

c:> sqlplus scott/tiger@orcl

The 'as sysdba' is a special case that says 'log me on as user SYS and give me utiimate authority.'. Not something you want to do from a remote machine. And yes, from an architectural standpoint, your Win7 host is a remote machine. If you need sysdba access, use putty to create a session on the vm. Every thing you do there will be 'local' to the vm.

For remote connections, the normal syntax is simply 'sqlplus <username>/<password>@net_service_name, where 'net_service_name' is one of your entries in your tnsnames.ora file.
See my writeups at edstevensdba.wordpress.com

user8816970 wrote:
Thanks!

I created a user/schema (what is the difference?) called sqlpocket3rd and created tables in this schema in the in my oracle guest VM. Then from windows:

sqlplus sqlpocket3rd/topsecret@192.168.1.131:1521/orcl @upfall.sql

This Works! Yahoo! Google! Yelp! What a struggle.

It even executes quickly!

Thanks everyone for all you help and sticking with me thru this long process!

Ed:
I have not read you reference yet. Is there a problem with the above approach?

Thanks again everyone!
Siegfried

Just that it is something of a band-aid. Did you read my previous post in this thread? Read that. Then read the posts on my blog:
http://edstevensdba.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/sqlnet_overview/
http://edstevensdba.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/sqlnet_client_cfg/

. After reading and digesting that, ask yourself "Is there a problem with the above approach?"

Edited by: EdStevens on Oct 22, 2012 6:48 AM

Hi, try the steps mentioned here, worked for me.

http://www.dbatoolz.com/t/installing-oracle-instantclient-basic-and-instantclient-sqlplus-on-win32.html