OCIEnvCreate failed with return code -1 but error message text was not available with ODP.net

Question

I'm trying to study ORP.net and looking over this article on Deploying ODP.NET with Oracle Instant Client. I have downloaded and copied all DLLs in project as the article explains, however on the testing step, when the app is built I get the following error:

OCIEnvCreate failed with return code -1 but error message text was not available

I am using oraclexe and I have an Oracle client. I have given full permission for authenticated users. How can I solve this problem?

Answer 1

When trying to connect to an Oracle database you receive the following error:

OCIEnvCreate failed with return code -1 but error message text was not available

The causes:

1. You are using an unsupported version of the Oracle Client (older than 11.2) on Windows 7.

2. DLLs from a previous installation of Oracle Client have been left on the system, causing a conflict.

The solutions:

1. Install a supported version of the Oracle Client.

2. Perform a search for "OCI.DLL" on the local machine. If you find any instances of this file in any location other than your ORACLE_HOME rename or delete it. If in doubt, uninstall the Oracle Client, then perform the search again. Anything that is leftover is the culprit.

Answer 2

What worked for me was setting ORACLE_HOME to oracle\client\your_version\home1 instead of oracle\client\your_version\home1\BIN