ODBC Administrator Can't Find Oracle TNS Names File

Question

With a new Oracle Installation when I go to Configuration Management Tools > Microsoft ODBC Administrator > System DSN > Add > [new installation] it doe

Answer 1

For some reason windows 2012R2 did not have an ORACLE_HOME environment variables set. This can case issues so either add oracle_home or tns_admin. Windows 2012 installs had a oracle_home variable.

Answer 2

If service name doesn't show in the dropdown, directly type in the service name and see if you are able to test the connection.

Answer 3

It appears the tumbleweed rolled by on this one but just for everyone who may be experiencing the same issue; I was able to fix this by using the Net Configuration Assistant wizard and providing the right information. It generated tnsnames.ora in proper format AND it should be noted that the filename given to me was tsnames.ora!

Answer 4

For the stupid souls like me: if you're writing out tnsnames.ora via notepad or so, make sure it doesn't have the .txt extension which is by (our) default not visible in windows explorer

Answer 5

Sorry to revive an ancient thread, but I had the same problem, and Net Configuration Assistant wouldn't run.

(Windows XP SP3, Oracle 11gR2 client)

SOLUTION:
1. Uninstall all other Oracle_Home instances using the Oracle (De-)Installer (don't just go deleting registry keys!), so that you only have the one Oracle_Home that you want to keep:
%oracle-home-that-you-want-to-keep%\client\oui\bin\setup.exe
2. Create or set Windows environment variables:
TNS_Admin = %oracle_home%\client_1\network\admin
Path = %oracle_home%\client_1; ...
3. Reboot. (sigh...)

Anyway, that's what worked for me.

Answer 6

Make sure that:

• Your tnsnames.ora is encoded in ANSI and not UTF8.
• You do not have special characters as üäö, not even in comments.