Gen 8.x Oracle Windows CSE Configuration fails with initdir.exe crash

Products

• Gen

Issue/Introduction

When configuring a Gen 8.x Windows Oracle CSE the program fails at the final Apply step with a crash in initdir.exe referencing ntdll.dll.
For Gen 8.6 this detailed crash error has been reported:
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Problem signature: 
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH 
Application Name: initdir.exe 
Application Version: 8.6.0.333 
Application Timestamp: 574c927d 
Fault Module Name: ntdll.dll 
Fault Module Version: 6.3.9600.18895 
Fault Module Timestamp: 5a4b127e 
Exception Code: c000007b 
Exception Offset: 0009d4e2 
OS Version: 6.3.9600.2.0.0.272.7 
Locale ID: 3081 
Additional Information 1: 1abe 
Additional Information 2: 1abee00edb3fc1158f9ad6f44f0f6be8 
Additional Information 3: 1abe 
Additional Information 4: 1abee00edb3fc1158f9ad6f44f0f6be8 
====

Corresponding Windows log message (Event Viewer > Windows logs > Application): 
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Windows cannot access the file for one of the following reasons: there is a problem with the network connection, the disk that the file is stored on, or the storage drivers installed on this computer; or the disk is missing. Windows closed the program CSE Init Dir because of this error. 

Program: CSE Init Dir 
File: 
​====

Environment

Gen Windows/Oracle CSE version 8.0, 8.5, 8.6

Cause

There is a technical requirement to have the Oracle 32-bit client installed for a Gen 8.x Windows CSE because the Gen Windows CSE software is still 32-bit. This is separate to the target Oracle database which is typically now 64-bit.

Resolution

1. Install the Oracle 32-bit client software on the CSE server.
   
   
2. The Oracle 32-bit client "bin" directory also needs to be in front of the Oracle database "bin" directory in the PATH so that the 32-bit version of the Oracle runtime dll is picked up before the 64-bit version of that same dll. The relevant dll names for Oracle versions are:
   Gen 8.0 & 8.5 using Oracle 11g: orasql11.dll
   Gen 8.6 using Oracle 12c: orasql12.dll 
   Gen 8.6 using Oracle 19c: orasql19.dll 

Additional Information

Gen™ 8.6 > Technical Requirements > Development Platform Environments
Use the Client Server Encyclopedia > Install and Configure CSE > Prerequisites for CSE Configuration
See this Note under "Create Oracle CSE Database"
"For 32-bit CSE Servers (Windows, AIX only) which run against a 64-bit Oracle database, the 32-bit Oracle client software must also be installed with the 64-bit Oracle database software. Install the 32-bit Oracle client software after creating ORACLE CSE database to ensure that the Oracle client bin directory precedes the Oracle server bin directory in the PATH environment variable. In this case, the 64-bit database engine and the 32-bit client library have different ORACLE_HOME values."