Oracle: "Unable to load DLL (oci.dll)"

[Guest]

Hi,
I am using VisualStudio.NET 2003 trying to connect to an Oracle Database
(version 8.0.5). I have created the connection using "Microsoft
OleDBProvider for Oracle" and when I click on Test connection, I get a
message showing "Test connection succeeded".

However, when I try to drag a table from the connection into a dataset, I
get the following message: "The connection could not be opened due to the
following error: Unable to load DLL (oci.dll)"

I have read a few posts regarding this error message but most of them seem
to be related to ASP.NET. Since I am only creating a Windows Forms
application, I believe the ASP.NET permissions shouldn't be an issue here. I
don't even have IIS installed on my computer.

I have been trying to locate the oci.dll file, but all I could find was a
file named ociw32.dll in the ORANT/BIN folder.

Do you guys have any idea what I should do???

Best regards,
-rotarinn

System info:
VisualStudio.NET 2003
Oracle 8.0.5.
Windows 2000 Professional

Note: This message was previously posted in dotnet.distributed_apps. I
apologize for that mistake.

 

[Walter]

Hi,

if you don't have oci.dll in your ora*/bin folder, your oracle client is
incomplete and nothing will work.

Also 8.0.5 is a version the guys at oracle will not confirm they ever
released it ;-)

Upgrade to at least the 8.1.7 client or 9.2 - these should work with
ASP.net.
(you can download the SW from oracle.com)

Waste your diskspace with an Administrative Install (not runtime only) - be
patient, the installer is 300% Java.

Regards,
Walter