After upgrading to Toad for Oracle 10.X or 11.x, the data grid now shows different characters and symbols like boxes, lines, Korean, Japanese, etc. They are all mixed characters. This behavior happens in the Editor and the Schema Browser windows. Sometimes an Access Violation in ORA805.dll or ORA806.dll is also received.
Go to Toad's Help menu | Support Bundle and under "ORACLE CLIENT INFORMATION". Ensure that it is higher than Oracle Client Version 8. Or if you are connecting to an Oracle Database Server 10g or 11g version, ensure that you are using an Oracle Client software 10g or 11g version.
Oracle 8.0.5, 8.0.6, etc are no longer supported in Toad for Oracle 10 or higher. Please update your Oracle Client to a 10g or 11g version.
Note: Oracle no longer supports 10g or 11g databases using 9i and lower clients and can cause data to show as odd symbols as well.
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Here are the Oracle download links for the Oracle Client Software we recommend:
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32-bit Oracle 11g R2 Client – Download Link:
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Client (11.2.0.1.0)
for Microsoft Windows (32-bit)
win32_11gR2_client.zip (684,581,290 bytes)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/112010-win32soft-098987.html
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64-bit Oracle 11g R2 Client – Download Link:
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Client (11.2.0.1.0) for Microsoft Windows (x64)
win64_11gR2_client.zip (615,698,264 bytes) (cksum - 2947608743)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/112010-win64soft-094461.html
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IMPORTANT NOTES:
- During the Oracle Client installation, choose “ADMINISTRATOR” installation type (this is not automatically selected).
- Download ‘directly’ to your “DESKTOP” location (and run it from there too). This can avoid many potential download and installation problems.
- Un-Zip the downloaded file. Do not run the Oracle Setup from within the ZIP program.
- Ensure that your Windows User has Administrator Rights before installing an Oracle Client (or Toad).
- Toad for Oracle 11.5.1 and lower / SQL Navigator supports 32-bit Oracle Clients only.
- The above 32-bit client will work on a 64-bit Windows OS’s.
- Ensure you apply or copy over your TNSNAMES.ORA file (this file usually comes from your company). The default location for this file in 10g and 11g is:
10g - C:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\NETWORK\ADMIN\
11g - C:\app\<YOUR_USER>\product\11.2.0\client_1\NETWORK\ADMIN\
NOTE: After installing the new client, ensure you select it in Toad’s / SQL Navigator’s login screen | under “Connect Using:” / “Oracle Home/Client:” (ensure you are NOT connected to any database for this setting to be available).
