Oraclle 11g instant client x64 doesn't work in windows 7 x64

Question

First of all I've read the software requirements in the installation guides for 11g instant client x64 and no support for Windows 7 is mentioned.. I'm not sure if this is the case any how here is the details of the problem:
I downloaded instant client (basic) and (sqlplus) and unzipped them on drive E, afterwards I created tnsnames.ora file with the following:
ORCL =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP) (HOST = IGGY) (PORT = 1521))
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVER = DEDICATED)
(SERVICE_NAME = ORCL)
and saved it in the instant client directory, afterwards I included the instant client directory in the user variable PATH value, and created system variable TNS_ADMIN and added the location of tnsnames.ora in the value.
Now the problem starts when I open MS-DOS and type: sqlplus system @ORCL, It then prompts for the password and when I try to enter anything the cursor doesn't move unless I press enter and the result is that I get the following error:
ORA-12154: TNS: COULD NOT RESOLVE THE CONNECT IDENTIFIER SPECIFIED
Any idea what the reason of this problem is?

Answer 1

Hello again,
I was able to reproduce ORA-12154 and the error raised beacause my DUMMY-HOST was not reachable. Using the correct hostname/IP address solved the issue. Can you check if you are able to ping and to telnet your hostname (IGGY).
Regards,
David
# Reproducing issue
E:\instantclient_11_1>sqlplus system/manager@//DUMMY-HOST:1521/PROD
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Fri Nov 27 10:37:54 2009
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle. All rights reserved.
ERROR:
ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified
Enter user-name:
# Hostname is not pingable
E:\instantclient_11_1>ping DUMMY-HOST
Ping request could not find host DUMMY-HOST. Please check the name and try again.
# Pinging host which is alive
E:\instantclient_11_1>ping stlin3p
Pinging stlin3p [192.168.1.123] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.123: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.123: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.123: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.123: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.123:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
# Connecting to port 1521 at DUMMY-HOST fails as well
E:\instantclient_11_1>telnet DUMMY-HOST 1521
Connecting To DUMMY-HOST...Could not open connection to the host, on port 1521:
Connect failed
# Connecting to port 1521 at stlin3p is successful
E:\instantclient_11_1>telnet stlin3p 1521
... connected ...
# Content of tnsnames.ora
PROD =
DESCRIPTION =
ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP) (HOST = stlin3p) (PORT = 1521)
CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVER = DEDICATED)
(SERVICE_NAME = PROD)
# Connecting to DB server using TNS methods is successful
E:\instantclient_11_1>sqlplus system/manager@PROD
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Fri Nov 27 10:36:40 2009
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production
SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production
# Connecting to DB server using EZCONNECT is also successful
E:\instantclient_11_1>sqlplus system/manager@//stlin3p:1521/PROD
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Fri Nov 27 10:38:21 2009
Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production
SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production