Oracle Database installation error: environment path

Question

While attempting to install Oracle Database 11g Release 2 on Windows 7 (64 bit).

Encountered following the error (PRVF-3929)

It states that the environment variable path is too long. To reach this variable I searched "envir" in Windows and selected "Edit variable settings for your account". Presumably it's the path of the system rather than user that must be changed.

Can I delete at my discretion - naturally removing extensions will have a bearing on different language compilations. Why does Oracle demand this limit and is this specific to the install of Oracle or is it a permanent limitations of using oracle dbms?

Answer 1

This limitation is based on older Windows restrictions, where length of environmental variables was important. This limitation is still there in the Oracle installation.

Work around this:

• Step 1: Copy the value of your 'path' variable to a text-editor (Ex.: notepad) and save this value as backup.
• Step 2: Reduce the size of this path to less that 1023 characters. Remove path variables at the end. You will mostly not need any of them during the oracle installation. Keep those removed values in a separate text-file, because you need to add them again later!
• Step 3: Start the oracle installation again.
• Step 4: After Oracle installation: Add those removed path values again at the end of the path.

Good luck!