How to set up TOAD to use Multiple NLS_LANG? (4326525)

How do you set up TOAD so that it can connect to certain databases with the corresponding client NLS_LANG?

For example, there are different databases of NLS_CHARACTERSET: UTF8, AL32UTF8 and ZHT16MSWIN950 and TOAD needs to connect to these databases concurrently. 

NLS_LANG is a client side setting. TOAD does not use the local NLS_LANG because it now uses an Unicode OCI, so it correctly does the full character conversion from/to Unicode on the client, as it communicates to the database.

Quest Software recommends to set NLS_LANG correctly to your environment, because TOAD does use Oracle utilities which still do require NLS_LANG. 

WORKAROUND:

1. To use multiple Oracle clients, one client for each NLS_LANG value.

2. Remove any NLS_LANG values in the System Environment Variables.

3. Set the NLS_LANG values to the corresponding clients' registry key. Now open the registry‚ Start | Run | regedit.  Navigate to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE

4. In the registry, create NLS_LANG value for each Oracle client.

Disclaimer  : Quest does not provide support for problems that arise from improper modification of the registry. The Windows registry contains information critical to your computer and applications. Make sure you back up the registry before modifying it. For more information on the Windows Registry Editor and how to back up and restore it, refer to Microsoft Article ID 256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=256986.

5. When connecting to each database, open a new TOAD application to perform a new connection. Ensure to specify the Oracle client to use for connection. TOAD remembers the Oracle client and its corresponding registry values.

How Toad Finds the Oracle Client DLL ":
1. Toad first looks in the Toad command line for OCIDLL.
2. If this is not found, Toad looks for the path for the Oracle home as follows:
3. If the command line argument "ORACLEHOME" was passed in, then Toad will use that home.
4. If there is no Toad home defined then Toad will display the home that is set as the default home using Oracleeeââ‚s Home Selector application as the default in the dropdown. Toad will use the home that is active in the dropdown.
5. To populate the dropdown, Toad searches the registry as follows:
o First, Toad reads the list of Oracle home names from the keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\ALL_HOMES
o If no Oracle homes are found there, then the Oracle home is set to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE
o Otherwise, Toad finds the ORACLE_HOME value for each Oracle home, if it exists. Then Toad checks the system environment variable called PATH to see whether it contains the "bin" folder under ORACLE_HOME. Toad selects the Oracle home whose path appears first in PATH.
o If Toad still hasn't found an Oracle home, it uses HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE.
6. Toad looks for the client DLL in the "Bin" folder under the path found for the Oracle home
o If that fails, Toad looks for the ORACLE_HOME key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ORACLE\SOFTWARE, and look for the client dll in the "Bin" folder under that.
o If that also fails, Toad looks for the client dll in every \bin directory in PATH.

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