Oracle installer failure tips Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

 

Question: I'm trying to run the Oracle installer on my Windows server and the installer fails to start.  When I hit the setup.exe on the Disk One file I get a DOS screen to flash ever so briefly and then the program exits. There are never any error messages that come up. The installer simply does not start. What are the possible reasons?

 

Answer: I've seen this before and it can be for several reasons, often a corrupt DLL. If I remember, the message in the DOS window indicate the issue, but it's too fast to see. It may be something like this:

"c:xxx.exe is not a valid Win32 application."

Reason 1 - Incompatible Oracle software - If your Windows 2003 Server is 64 bit you need the 64-bit client. Most 9i clients are for XP, 32 bit.  Check the Oracle client certification matrix.

Note: if you are running Windows 2003 32-bit. If you are using Windows 2003 64-bit, you will likely need to download "Oracle9i Database Release 2
 

Reason 2 - Windows Data Execution Prevention - The use of Data Execution Prevention as part of Windows 2003 Server. Apparently this feature of recent versions of Windows OS blocks the installation of any version of Oracle. So under System Properties > Performance Options > Data Execution Prevention. The setting was toggled on for Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I list. Simply toggle on for "Turn on DEP" for essential Windows programs and services or you can list the names of programs and services if you know what they are. It is recommended by Microsoft that this feature be left on as it does prevent malicious code from being introduced into the computer.

 

Reason 3 - Missing WOW

1 - Go to start -> run
2 - enter regedit and click OK
3 - Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> system -> currentcontrolset -> control.
4 - Scroll down to the bottom and check if you can see a key named WOW.
5 - If missing, re-export and import WOW from another PC

 

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