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- If there is another version of an Oracle client on this computer, remove it first. Because there is usually no uninstaller available in Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs, just delete the directories "C:\Program Files\Oracle10" and "C:\Program Files\Oracle" and their contents. You may not be able to remove one directory because one oci*.dll file is in use; ignore the problem and it will go away in the next step. In the Services management console (services.msc), disable any Oracle services, if there are any. You also need to remove any Oracle directories from the Windows PATH environment variable, which is easiest to do in step X below.
- Create the directory "C:\Program Files\Oracle11" and unzip all the .ZIP archives listed above into this directory. (Windows Explorer can open a .ZIP archive like a folder and then you can "Extract all files".) These extracted files are probably going to be created under an instantclient_11_xx subdirectory; once the extractions are done, move all the files and folders out of that instantclient_11_xx subdirectory up into the main "C:\Program Files\Oracle11" directory.
- You need to create two new Windows environment variables and modify another. You can use the SetX command line utility if you're familiar with it; there's a copy of the utility in that original directory holding the .ZIP archives. Or you can use the Windows UI; In Control Panel->System->, find the Advanced tab (under Advanced system settings on Windows 7), choose the Environment Variables button (toward the bottom). In the System variables (bottom) list, scroll down to the Path variable, select it, and choose Edit. Remove any existing Oracle directories from the Path (they are usually at the front), and put this new directory as the first in the Path: C:\Program Files\Oracle11; then choose OK.
Back at the Environment Variables dialog, select the New button under the System variables (bottom) list, and create these two new variables with the indicated values (no blanks):
TNS_ADMIN C:\Progra~1\Oracle11
ORACLE_HOME C:\Progra~1\Oracle11
(in these, we're using the short form of the "C:\Program Files\Oracle11" directory name, to avoid confusing Oracle.) - Copy the three Carleton *.ora files--tnsnames.ora, ldap.ora, sqlnet.ora--into this Oracle11 program directory. You can find these files in the original directory holding the .ZIP archives, or in APPS\Windows\Oracle102. These files define how the Oracle client will try to locate database services; their modifcation is beyond the scope of this article.
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