Oracle connectivity from Toad on x64

If you install oracle 64 bit client on a x64 box and then install Toad 8.6(32-bit or x86) then toad will not be able to find your oracle home directory and cannot connect to any Oracle server.

So you need to uninstall 64-bit oracle client and install 32-bit Oracle client.

Oh now Toad found the oracle home and everything seems fine. but when connecting it gives you a TNS: cannot resolve connect identifier error (which is weird). try connecting with SQL plus, you'll succeed.

Ok now you remember installing toad in the default directory (which should be c:\program files (x86)\blah\blah). Now uninstall toad and when again installing change the default directory to c:\program files\ or any other than default (x86).

Restart and try connecting again with Toad. Success i hope.