Windows – Error 0xc000007b with Oracle 19c

errorsoracle-19csqlpluswindows-server

As our (32-bit) application uses the Oracle client for communication with the Oracle server I have set up a test environment on a Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Datacenter. I have installed the Oracle DB 19c (19.3.0.0 64-bit) and the appropriate Oracle client (19.3.0.0 32-bit).

As soon as I start TNSPING or SQLPLUS out of the installation directory of the Oracle client, the Windows error message "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application." occurs.

I have searched the internet for remedy and tried all the 'restart Windows' and 'reinstall framework' hints without success. The hint "64-bit software on 32-bit Windows doesn't work." simply doesn't apply to my problem.

Is there anybody out there who has further ideas – perhaps ideas more close to the Oracle world.

Thanks in advance,
Ben

Best Answer

I had exactly the same errors after installing a 32-Bit client (19.9.0.0.201020). Windows application event log stated an error concerning "C:\Windows\system32\ntdll.dll". This is a 64-Bit DLL with the 32-Bit counterpart in "C:\Windows\SysWow64".

This is the solution

You need to add C:\Windows\SysWow64 to the PATH environment variable. This can be done temporarily using:

SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Windows\SysWow64 

Furthermore you need to have 32-Bit Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime 2015-2019 installed. The latest Visual C++ Redistributable can be downloaded from:

Hope this helps.