After using my Windows XP laptop for almost 5 years, I decided it was time to get a new platform. Contrary to what I have seen here, an associate at one of our client sites reported he had installed Forms 6i on Vista, so I went ahead and bought a Dell notebook running Windows Vista Home Basic. I realize that Oracle will never certify Forms 6i on Vista, but based on my development and testing work, it appears to be a viable setup.
I first installed the Oracle 10.2.0.3 database which is certified to run on Vista. I then imported all the database tables necessary to recreate the robust testing environment I had on the XP running Oracle 9.
Following that, I installed Forms 6i. That was successful, and I then installed Forms 10g, which also seems to run ok. I have posted my installation steps for Forms 10
in another thread, since my main purpose here is to outline the steps to install Forms 6i. Note that the Forms 10g web runtime will NOT run in Internet Explorer, but both Firefox and Netscape will run web forms just fine as long as java is disabled.
Edit November, 2011: I followed these steps to install on Windows 7, but found I needed to install in the C:\Program Files area.
Here's the post:
Forms 6i installed and running on Windows 7
These are my Forms 6i installation steps:
I. Preliminary system changes in Windows
1. Note that I first installed the Oracle database server version
10.2.0.3 for Windows Vista before installing Forms 6i. However,
I do not think this step is necessary. I downloaded
10203_database_vista.zip, and installed using the "Personal"
installation type selected from the setup menu.
The only thing this MAY have added to the system is a compatible
networking software version (SQL Net).
2. Download and install WinHlp32.exe from Microsoft.
Note that this step was actually done AFTER installing Forms 6i,
once I discovered the on-line help would not run.
Forms 6i on-line help is in a non-supported format on Vista. But
Microsoft provides a program that can be installed which enables
using it: WinHlp32.exe
See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607
Downloaded: Windows6.0-KB917607-x86.msu
Did not download the -x64 version (no hints given as to which to
use. Assume that -x64 is for 64-bit versions.)
Once installed, Forms 6i on-line help works.
II. Installing Forms 6i
1. Get a zip file of the original Oracle Forms 6i installation CD.
zip file was named: Forms6iInstallCD.zip
2. Create a folder where all Oracle software will be installed:
C:\oracle. Note that in my situation, I first installed the
Oracle 10g database software, so a folder named C:\oracle was
already created by that install.
2b. (updated Feb 2008) If you are running anti-virus software,
turn it off before extracting. An associate had problems with
the Forms 6i installer (file not found: tftp.exe, which is
is used by viruses in some cases). Once he disabled the
anti-virus software, and also shutting down Vista's User
Account Control (UAC) as a second measure, he was able to
install successfully.
3. Extract all to a folder. This can all be deleted once
installation is complete.
Suggest: C:\oracle
This created a folder named C:\oracle\Forms6iInstallCD, 640 MB.
4. Change the Compatibility of setup.exe in \Forms6iInstallCD
to run as Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
(In windows explorer, right click, properties, Compatibility tab)
5. Right click setup.exe and Run as administrator.
6. Installation settings: Company name: (My employer)
Oracle Home: use default "DEFAULT_HOME"
Location: change from C:\orant to C:\oracle\orant (This keeps
all Oracle software under a single C:\oracle folder.)
Product to install: Oracle Forms Developer
optional: also install Reports.
Do not install servers.
Do not install "Forms server for testing".
7. When install is complete, six Start menu folders are displayed.
(One reports a bad path). Close them for now. I consolidated
all of them once I applied Patch 18 below.
The full Windows Explorer path is:
Desktop\Computer\OS(C:)\Users\Steve\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft...
...\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Oracle...
8. Delete installation folder C:\oracle\Forms6iInstallCD
III. Installing Forms 6i patch 18.
1. Extract the Patch18 zip file to C:\oracle, which creates folder
C:\oracle\p4948577_600_WINNT
2. Change the compatibility of setup.exe as above, to Windows XP.
3. Right click setup.exe and run as administrator.
4. When complete, close the start menu folders.
5. Delete folder C:\oracle\p4948577_600_WINNT.
6. Clean up start menu folders: Put them all under an Oracle Forms6
folder.
7. Create a Forms Builder shortcut on the desktop for easy startup:
Do this by locating Forms Builder in start menu, and then
ctrl-click and drag it to the desktop.
Modify its properties: Compatibility with Windows XP, and so it
automatically logs into database when started.
8. Create a runform shortcut on the desktop, similar to Forms Builder
shortcut.
IV. After installing the latest Forms 6i patch
1. Optional: Create an easily accessible folder to store fmb files.
C:\users\steve\01\fmb6
Run regedit, and add the above path to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ORACLE/FORMS60_PATH
2. In regedit in the same Oracle area, create a new "string value".
Name it FORMS60_MMAP, and set its value to 0.
This allows compilation of a form while the fmb is running.
3. tnsnames.ora:
Make copies of original tnsnames files named tnsnames_orig.ora
at: C:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_1\network\admin\
and: C:\oracle\orant\NET80\admin\
Note that the one in the 10.2.0 folder was created by the
installation of database server Oracle 10g.
Modify permission on file
C:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_1\network\admin\tnsnames.ora
so it could be modified by PFE (my favorite/familiar text editor)
Create a new tnsnames.ora file, copying entries from my old file
on my old laptop, which contains all the connections I use.
Delete the old laptop entry, replace with new entry for the new
local ORCL connection on new laptop from tnsnames_orig.ora
file renamed above in the ...\10.2.0\db_1\ path.
4. Download required PLL and FMB files into the newly created folder
for Forms.
PLL Libraries, Reference forms, etc.
QA.fmb
ZDEBUG.fmb
5. Run Forms Builder, connect to the database server.
Compile PLL Libraries
Compile QA.fmb, etc.
Message was edited by: Steve Cosner, 26 Nov 2007 -- added new information