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Anonymous
Not applicable

Issues connecting Oracle to Power BI

Hello all,

 

I currently have OraClinet 11g installed which I use for connecting AQT to Oracle db's. I now have a need to connect Power BI directly to an Oracle db but when I do I get the error the driver is deprecitated and I need to update to 12. I've gone and downloaded Oracle db 12 (the first one I've found) and installed it. I then added ODP.NET_Managed_ODAC122cR1 under Oracle 12 and I now get the error...

 

Details: "An error happened while reading data from the provider: 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object.'"

 

Should I delete everything Oracle and restart? Do I have the right downloaded files to be able to install and get Power BI to connect to Oracle?

 

Thanks!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Hi @Anonymous ,

These errors might occur if the Oracle client either isn't installed or isn't configured properly. If it's installed, verify that the tnsnames.ora file is properly configured and you're using the proper net_service_name. You also need to make sure that the net_service_name is the same between the machine that uses Power BI Desktop and the machine that runs the gateway. 

Refer this image:

oracle note.png

You might also encounter a compatibility issue between the Oracle server version and the Oracle Data Access Client version. Typically, you want these versions to match, as some combinations are incompatible. For instance, ODAC 12.x does not support Oracle Server version 9.

If you downloaded Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, you might be unable to connect to Oracle databases because of an Oracle driver issue. If you encounter this issue, the error message returned is: Object reference not set. To address the issue, do one of these steps:

  • Download Power BI Desktop from the Download Center instead of Microsoft Store.

  • If you want to use the version from Microsoft Store: on your local computer, copy oraons.dll from 12.X.X\client_X to 12.X.X\client_X\bin, where X represents version and directory numbers.

 

Best Regards,
Yingjie Li

If this post helps then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

 

View solution in original post

5 REPLIES 5
v-yingjl
Community Support
Community Support

Hi @Anonymous ,

  1. Please follow this document to remove all your oracle 11g client files in your computer first
  2. Please verify you have installed the Oracle client software properly according to this article: Installing the Oracle client.

Also you can check this similar thread: PowerBI desktop 64Bit oracle connection error Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

 

Best Regards,
Yingjie Li

If this post helps then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi @v-yingjl ,

 

Thank-you for the feedback and links; I did exactly that and now have the option to create data sources with either "Oracle in instantclient_12_2" or "Oracle in OraClient12Home1". However, when I try to connect Power BI to Oracle, I am receiving the error "Details: "Oracle: ORA-12170: TNS:Connect timeout occurred"". 

 

I talked to the Oracle DBA and they provided me the correct values for the tnsnames.ora file, regarding the Host and SID, but yet the error still remains. 

 

As a comparison, I was able to connect my AQT program to Oracle without issue under 11g, however I am receiving the same error with AQT as well, so it's a common issue between AQT and Power BI. 

 

Any ideas on why it's throwing this error?

Hi @Anonymous ,

These errors might occur if the Oracle client either isn't installed or isn't configured properly. If it's installed, verify that the tnsnames.ora file is properly configured and you're using the proper net_service_name. You also need to make sure that the net_service_name is the same between the machine that uses Power BI Desktop and the machine that runs the gateway. 

Refer this image:

oracle note.png

You might also encounter a compatibility issue between the Oracle server version and the Oracle Data Access Client version. Typically, you want these versions to match, as some combinations are incompatible. For instance, ODAC 12.x does not support Oracle Server version 9.

If you downloaded Power BI Desktop from the Microsoft Store, you might be unable to connect to Oracle databases because of an Oracle driver issue. If you encounter this issue, the error message returned is: Object reference not set. To address the issue, do one of these steps:

  • Download Power BI Desktop from the Download Center instead of Microsoft Store.

  • If you want to use the version from Microsoft Store: on your local computer, copy oraons.dll from 12.X.X\client_X to 12.X.X\client_X\bin, where X represents version and directory numbers.

 

Best Regards,
Yingjie Li

If this post helps then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

 

Thanks to you I can finally connect to the database!! In effect, it was the installation of PowerBI from the Microsoft Store.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Thank you again for all the information and help. I was using the store app and when I download Power BI, everything worked perfectly. Be nice of they could fix the issue in the store app.... 

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