Oracle 9i Client/MSDAORA Problem

Hi all,

I am using the MSDAORA OLE DB provider to connect to Oracle from ASP.NET using ADO.NET. We are able to consistently reproduce this problem:

1. Install 9i client
2. We can connect to Oracle just fine (if we follow the procedure outlined here: http://www.vbip.com/forum/topic.asp?id=6259)
3. Uninstall 9i client
4. Reinstall 9i client
5. We can no longer connect to Oracle 9i. We receive the following error: "Oracle client and networking components were not found. These components are supplied by Oracle Corporation and are part of the Oracle Version 7.3.3 or later client software installation. Provider is unable to function until these components are installed."

There also appears to be issues with the 9i installer in that it does not set proper permissions to the bin folder under the Oracle home so that the MSDAORA driver cannot see it. (see http://www.vbip.com/forum/topic.asp?id=6259)

We have had this problem when installing the 8i client, uninstalling the 8i client, and then installing the 9i client (not necessarily in that order) even after manipulating the homes in the registry.

Is there any documentation or at least acknowledgement of this problem from either Microsoft or Oracle? Does anyone know of a way to fix this? (... and "search for Oracle in the registry and delete all" is not really acceptable, don't you think? Our client certainly won't buy it!) And we are already in the process of switching drivers, so I am looking for more of a "quick fix". Our current "quick fix" is:

A:> format C:
REINSTALL WINDOWS! Please note that Oracle plays fine with Oracle in this case, it's just Microsoft MSDAORA not playing with Oracle under certain circumstances.

Thanks,

Henry. Received on Wed Oct 05 2005 - 17:02:37 CDT