Testing an Oracle Database Connection to InfoAccess
After installing the Oracle client, you will want to test your connection to ensure the software is installed correctly. This document details how to test your Oracle database connection through the Windows command prompt for both 32- and 64-bit Oracle installations.
Prepare for testing
Before you test the connection to InfoAccess, ensure you have the Oracle client installed and your TNSnames.ora file in the correct location with an entry for InfoAccess. Ensure you know your Oracle client paths if you have both 32- and 64-bit versions installed. Note that the paths can be different on different machines. You can find your Oracle client path by searching fortnsping
in Windows Explorer. See Downloading and Installing Oracle 12c Client and Adding, Edting, or Replacing Your TNSnames.ora File for InfoAccess for more information.Open the command prompt by pressing the Windows key (between Left Ctrl and Alt with the Windows logo) on your keyboard and typing "cmd".

Press return or click on Command Prompt, which will open a command prompt window.
Testing instructions: variations
There are three sets of instructions, depending on your Oracle driver installation(s).- You have a 32-bit or a 64-bit version of the Oracle driver installed.
- You have a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of the Oracle driver installed, and you want to test the 32-bit connection.
- You have a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of the Oracle driver installed, and you want to test the 64-bit connection.
Testing instructions: only one Oracle driver version (64-bit or 32-bit) installed
In this case, testing is simple. Typetnsping infoaccess
in command prompt and you receive the results:
As you can see by the screenshot above,
OK
means the test completed successfully.
Testing instructions: 32-bit Oracle driver connection
In command prompt, you must change the directory where thetnsping
command runs to where the 32-bit Oracle driver version is. In command prompt, first type cd C:\
, which will allow you to change the directory to the 32-bit Oracle path. You'll know this is successful when command prompt shows C:\
before the cursor.

After this, navigate to your
bin
folder in your 32-bit Oracle driver folders. Type the following in command prompt, assuming your 32-bit Oracle driver home directory is C:\Oracle32
.
cd Oracle32\product\12.2.0\client_1\bin
After this step, the command prompt should look like this:

Type
tnsping infoaccess
. Command prompt should generate some results similar to the screenshot below.

You can tell the command successfully used the 32-bit driver by the text
TNS Ping Utility for 32-bit Windows:
in command prompt. As you can see by the screenshot above, OK
means the test completed successfully.
Testing instructions: 64-bit Oracle driver connection
In command prompt, you must change the directory where thetnsping
command runs to where the 64-bit Oracle driver version is. In command prompt, first type cd C:\
, which will allow you to change the directory to the 64-bit Oracle path. You'll know this is successful when command prompt shows C:\
before the cursor.

After this, navigate to your
bin
folder in your 64-bit Oracle driver folders. Type the following in command prompt, assuming your 64-bit Oracle driver home directory is C:\Oracle64
.
cd Oracle64\product\12.2.0\client_1\bin
After this step, the command prompt should look like this:

Type
tnsping infoaccess
. Command prompt should generate some results similar to the screenshot below.

You can tell the command successfully used the 64-bit driver by the text
TNS Ping Utility for 64-bit Windows:
in command prompt. As you can see by the screenshot above, OK
means the test completed successfully.