Oracle Database Discussions

This is a question about running Dev Suite 10gR1 from Windows 7.

I have been unable to connect to my database using sqlplusw.exe.  The executable is on a network drive, and when I run it from my Windows 7 machine, I get an error: "ORA-02248 Invalid option for ALTER SESSION" and cannot connect.  When I run the same executable from my Windows XP machine (whcih can access teh same network drive), I can connect without a problem.  (The fact is that I have never been able to connect to the database from Windows 7, but I had an XP machine as an option so we just used the tools there - now the XP machines are becoming less of an option for me.)

I turned on tracing using the sqlnet.ora file and compared two different trace files - the one generated when I tried to connect via Win 7 (which failed) and the one generated when I tried to connect via Windows XP (which was successful).  I found two main differences in the files:

1. The Win7 file has

an error:

nioqrc:  Recieve: returning error: 3111

2. The Win7 file has

a section that tries to execute an alter session command, but the arguments to it appear to be null:

nspsend: 00 00 00 12 41 55 54 48  |....AUTH|

nspsend: 5F 41 4C 54 45 52 5F 53  |_ALTER_S|

nspsend: 45 53 53 49 4F 4E 01 00  |ESSION..|

nspsend: 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00  |........|

In the WinXP version (this is the one that

connects), the alter session part looks like this (I took out the nspsend: <hex> part to make it easier to read):

..AUTH_A|LTER_SESSION.....@ALTER.@ALTER SESSION SET NLS_LANGUAGE= 'AMERICAN' NLS_TERRITORY= 'AMERI@CA'RI@CA' NLS_CURRENCY= '$' NLS_ISO_CURRENCY= 'AMERICA' NLS_NUMERIC_CH@ARACTERS= '. ,' NLS_CALENDAR= 'GREGORIAN' NLS_DATE_FORMAT= 'DD-MO@N-RR' NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE= 'AMERICAN'  NLS_SORT= 'BINARY' TIME_ZON@E='-04:00' NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY = '$' NLS_TIME_FORMAT = 'HH.MI.SSX@FF AM' NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT = 'DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM' NLS_TIM@E_TZ_FORMATNLS_TIM@E_TZ_FORMATNLS_TIM@E_TZ_FORMAT = 'HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR' NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT = 'DD.-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR'............

Why there are a bunch of '@'s'@'s'@'s in the XP trace file, I don't know, but the point is that I can log in via SQL*Plus with this one, and I cannot on Win 7 and in Win 7 the actual ALTER SESSION command is missing in the WIN7 trace file.

I've been thinking this might have to do with my resgistry on Windows7 missing something, but I've copied in all the nls_ settings I can find in my XP registry.  This could possibly be solved by a reinstall of the 10gR1 tools, but whoever installed them years ago does not seem to have saved a copy anywhere and I can no longer find them online.

Does anyone know why the alter session piece might be missing and what I can do to fix it?

(Note that I originally posted this in the Forms forum, but I now know it has to do with any connection from the Win7 machine using the 10gR1 tools, not just forms connections, and now that I have more information, I am posting it here.)

Thanks,

Meredith