SQL Plus Installation

Question

Trying to install the SQL Plus 10g. After completion, could not login. I un-installed (I thought) it through Vista control panel. Now want to re-install, ran the IOU. In the Selection Installation Method window, selected Basic, typed the password and confirmed, click next. On Product Specific Prerequisite Check window, click next
I'm getting a message, "The SID you have specified already exists on the machine, please specify a different SID."
How do I specify a different SID and complete the re-installation process? Thanks for helping. John
Edited by: 804479 on Oct 22, 2010 1:52 PM

Answer 1

804479 wrote:
Trying to install the SQL Plus 10g. After completion, could not login. I un-installed (I thought) it through Vista control panel. Now want to re-install, ran the IOU. In the Selection Installation Method window, selected Basic, typed the password and confirmed, click next. On Product Specific Prerequisite Check window, click next
I'm getting a message, "The SID you have specified already exists on the machine, please specify a different SID."
How do I specify a different SID and complete the re-installation process? Thanks for helping. John
Edited by: 804479 on Oct 22, 2010 1:52 PMThere are so many things wrong with this I hardly know where to begin.
First, before we even get to the issue at hand .. when you you respond to someone's post by editing your original, it is next to impossible for people who come along later (like me, right now) to make any sense of where the discussion stands. Keep the conversation moving forward with new messages. Once a message is responded to, do not go back and edit it. Also, when responding to a message, it is best to quote a least the significant part to which you are responding. This also helps other to know exactly what your response is addressing.
Now, as far as your installation problem ... did you actually read the installation guide?
As pointed out, sqlplus is not a stand-alone installation. It is simply a command line interpreter (CLI) that is part of the oracle client bundle. you get it by installing either the client or the database (which installs the client as well).
Second, oracle 10 is not certified on Vista. And while you don't mention the version of Vista, it's worth pointing out that NO oracle product is certified on ANY home version of ANY Windows OS.
I don't understand how you could event think you un-installed it through Vista control panel. That's not how oracle installations work, and I don't think it would even show up there to attempt to uninstall it that way.
The error message you got concerning the sid indicates your first installation probably went OK, and you installed the db server software and created database.
So at that point you couldn't log on so decided to un-install and reinstall. That's like tearing down your house and rebuilding it just because you couldn't find the door key. If you had stopped right there and asked for help it would have been relatively easy to work through the problem. Now it's anyone's guess as to exactly what you have.
It is possible - quite easy actually, but not for the faint of heart - to rip oracle out by the roots on a windows system. It involves stopping any oracle related services, deleting a key from the registry, and deleting two directories from the disk. That would let you get a clean start and is sometimes necessary when dealing with a completely broken installation. But why don't we try to fix what we have before we go there.
You must tell us the following:
EXACTLY what version AND edition of Windows you are installing this on.
Exactly how you attempted to install. What file did you execute? What choices were you presented with and what choices did you make?
Do you have any oracle related services running - see the Services control panel. All oracle related services begin with "ora".
And remember, "doesn't work" is not a valid error code or message.