# toad can not recognize the tnsnames.ora file

**URL:** <https://forums.toadworld.com/t/toad-can-not-recognize-the-tnsnames-ora-file/31911>\
**Category:** Toad for Oracle & DevOps Toolkit\
**Created:** [December 2, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://forums.toadworld.com/t/toad-can-not-recognize-the-tnsnames-ora-file/31911 "2014-12-02T09:47:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![swilkins68823](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@swilkins68823](https://forums.toadworld.com/u/swilkins68823)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://forums.toadworld.com/t/toad-can-not-recognize-the-tnsnames-ora-file/31911/1 "2014-12-02T09:47:11Z")

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I have set the enviroment variable correctly for the tnsnames.ora file and toad still does not recognize the file

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnDorlon](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/quest/user_avatar/forums.toadworld.com/johndorlon/32/9997_2.png) [@JohnDorlon](https://forums.toadworld.com/u/JohnDorlon)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:55am UTC](https://forums.toadworld.com/t/toad-can-not-recognize-the-tnsnames-ora-file/31911/2 "2014-12-02T09:55:14Z")

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Like this?

Rt-click “My computer” -\> “Properties” -\> “Advanced System Settings” -\> “Advanced” -\> “Environment Variables”

![TnsAdmin.jpeg](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/quest/original/2X/8/8325fed47e9039632d7a960d27e1d3da15996cd9.jpeg)

Notice there is no trailing slash (I’m not sure if that matters). Then tnsnames.ora is in that folder.

You might also want to make sure that you don’t have another tnsnames.ora in your Oracle client’s network\admin folder.

If that all looks right, what exactly do you mean by “toad does not recognize it”. Toad doesn’t find it? Or Toad finds it but there is some problem? If there is a problem, what is it, exactly?