Question: I an getting
the error "Resolving ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid
environment specified" when I change my NLS_LANG setting.
The developers need to experiment with different character sets but when they
issue export NLS_LANG and try to start SQLPLUS after that they get the ORA-12705
error.
Answer:
First, see my notes all about the ORA-12705 error.
The
ORA-12705 error is indeed controlled by NLS_LANG, and the ORA-12705 commonly
happens when Oracle does an automatic "alter session" at login time and
discovers an invalid NLS_LANG setting. The Oracle documentation notes are
not very helpful:
ORA-12705: "invalid or unknown NLS
parameter value specified"
Cause: There are two possible causes:
- An attempt was made to issue
an ALTER SESSION statement with an invalid NLS parameter or value.
- The NLS_LANG environment variable contains an invalid language,
territory, or character set.
Action: Check the syntax of
the ALTER SESSION command and the NLS parameter, correct the syntax and
retry the statement, or specify correct values in the NLS_LANG environment
variable.
Oracle also says that the ORA-12705
can happen under these conditions and MOSC has resolutions for these
ORA-12705 conditions:
1. ORA-12705 with incorrect
NLS_LANG parameter
2. ORA-12705 with incorrectly specified ORA_NLSx
3. ORA-12705 from incorrect Oracle install or configuration
4. ORA-12705 when using Special Character sets
5. ORA-12705 when connecting with SQL*Net
6. ORA-12705 during migrations
7. ORA-12705 when connecting with SQL*Plus
8. ORA-12705 when connecting with language pre-compilers
9. ORA-12705 during Export/Import
For ORA-12705 errors caused by invalid
NLS_LANG settings, you need to verify that it is "unset" at the system-level:
- Windows - The NLS_LANG
must be unset in the Windows registry (re-named is best). Look for the
NLS_LANG subkey in the registry at \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE, and
rename it.
- Linux/UNIX - Here you
simply issue the Linux command "unset NLS_LANG"
and include the URL for the page.
