Addressing ORACLE_HOME values diversity

Question

I have checked my ORACLE_HOME in 3 different ways in my windows 32-bits PC in this order:

1.- In cmd, if I type echo %ORACLE_HOME% the result is just:%ORACLE_HOME%, so no current path. Why?

2.- In regedit, under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_OraClient11g_home1, the stored value is C:\oracle\product\11.2.0\client_1

3.- Finally, in the variable Path in Environment variables these are the oracle-related ones values (I disguise the others by using asterisks) in the same order they appear:

C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\oracle_python\instantclient_11_2;C:\oracle\32bit\product\11.2.0\client_1\bin;*;*;C:\oracle\product\11.2.0\client_1\bin;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;*;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_60\bin

In addition, I operate with Oracle only in two ways basically: I use SQL Developer daily but also I do some scripting in Python by using the cx_Oracle library.

My question is whether I have properly optimized the ORACLE_HOME variable or not, I mean would an expert in Oracle agree with this current scenario?

Answer 1

When you do echo %ORACLE_HOME% then you interrogate the Environment variable ORACLE_HOME. In your case it is not set.

Some tools use (only) the Environment variable for ORACLE_HOME, other use the Registry value. I think most programs use both and give precedence over Environment variable.

I assume for your Oracle Client following folders are relvant:

C:\oracle_python\instantclient_11_2
C:\oracle\32bit\product\11.2.0\client_1\bin
C:\oracle\product\11.2.0\client_1\bin

Looks like you installed Oracle client three times (all into different folder). I do not consider this as an optimized setup. My recommendation is to remove all of them and make one single proper installation.

Check also How to uninstall / completely remove Oracle 11g (client)? in case of problems.