New Laptop Oracle PowerQuery Nightmare!

[rhawlor]

Hi All

Hope everyone is having fun with their data analystics!

I have just received a new laptop and for the life of me I cannot get connected to Oracle DB's. I have downlaoded various Oracle and MS products and failed to get this up and running or even make a connection via excel or PBI.

My old laptop was carefully curated over the years and everything worked, but now i can't even connect to our databases. - I should have created a 'how to' guide for this as i went along.

The weird thing is i can connect via Oracle SQL DEveloper 21.4, but not with anything else.

I have installed Oracle Instant client and created the environments multiple times now using both 32 then 64 and back to 32 BIT. Now i am worried that all of my PQ Workbooks i have set up to reduce manual efforts will now be useless.

Please can anyone shed any light on this mysterious art so i can get myself back up and running! 😥

Thanks 

Rob

[rhawlor · Accepted solution]

Ok so after a long weekend i finally managed to resolve this. For anyone having issues with setting up connectors and going through the many Oracle pages, here is sOmething i learned:

1. Oracle Data Access Client (ODAC) 32/64 bit is referring to your database not your PC or PBI.

• 32 Bit here: Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC) for Windows Downloads
• 64 Bit here: 64-bit Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC) for Windows
• Make sure you clikc the install ODAC instructions BEFORE you click download.

2. You dont need to download all the different pieces of software Oracle asks you for such as Visual Studio - Uncheck Anything that mentions visual studio when installing anything Oracle

3. Make sure you install the correct PowerBI for your Database if the db is 32 Bit and your laptop is 64 then download the 32 bit version.

Hope this helps guys!!! 🙂

[mahoneypat]

Oracle is a pain to set up for Power BI, and many go through the same trial/error with each new PC. I assume you've seen this article. One option is to set up your connection through ODBC, which still requires the Oracle drivers. However, at least that way, you can confirm the Oracle part is working, and then focus on the Oracle connector.

Connect to an Oracle database with Power BI Desktop - Power BI | Microsoft Docs

Pat

[rhawlor]

Thanks @freginier I did try that at one point, but even that didnt work, excel gave me a "Frown" error to report.= which didnt tell me much. 

[freginier]

I'm not Oracle expert but I know you have to define some values in tnsnames file... 

Hope it will help