TNS_ADMIN variable reference in TNSNAMES.ORA are not recognized. (4231087)

When using

1. TNS_ADMIN variable
(either as environment variable or in the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE folder)
or
2. IFILE= in the TNSNAMES.ORA

The file or list of databases are not recognized.

WORKAROUND 1:

Verify that the the syntax of the database entries in the tnsnames.ora are correct one

WORKAROUND 2:

Verify that the path to the tnsnames.ora is entered in correctly. The file should exist in that path and should be accessible by the Windows user. There should not be any spaces in front of the TNS path. It should only note the path to the file, and should not include the file name itself.

WORKAROUND 3:

Verify that the name of the tnsnames.ora is correct. In Windows' Tools | Folder Options | View  there is an option to "Hide extensions for known file types". Make sure this is unchecked/disabled and veirfy the full name and extension of the file.

i.e. With the option enabled, the file may display as "tnsnames.ora". But b/c the extension is hidden, you may not realize that the file name is actually "tnsnames.ora.txt". As a .txt, the file will not be recognized and read by Toad.

NOTE: Toad for Oracle does not support IFILE. No enhancement requests will be accepted at this time.

Please remember if you have set two TNS_ADMINs:
If there is a TNS_ADMIN key set in the environment variables then this is the tnsnames.ora file that TOAD will read even if there is a TNS_ADMIN key in the registry, because the environment always overrides the registry, so if TNS_ADMIN is set in the environment, then that takes precedence over the TNS_ADMIN setting in the registry.