Installing OBIEE 11g Client tool on Windows 8

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OBIEE 11g client tool is not certified with Windows 8. 
The certification matrix for OBIEE version 11.1.1.7.0+ is in the following location and it does not include Windows 8. 

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi/bi-11gr1certmatrix-ps6-1928219.xls

It means that installing OBIEE 11g client on Windows 8 is not supported by Oracle. I got a mail from Oracle to explicitly call it out.

This blog talks about a way to to install admin tool on Windows 8 machine.


We can download both the 64 bit and 32 bit windows installer for client tool from OBIEE portal.


The problem statement:

We can change the compatibility mode for the 64 bit installer to various previous versions of Windows.
 

We get the following error or the installer disappears in a few seconds after extracting the contents on the selection of any of the previous versions of Windows.

ZeroGu2: Windows DLL failed to load
    at ZeroGa2.b(DashoA10*..)
    at ZeroGa2.b(DashoA10*..)
    at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.b(DashoA10*..)
    at com.zerog.ia.installer.LifeCycleManager.a(DashoA10*..)
    at com.zerog.ia.installer.Main.main(DashoA10*..)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(DashoA10*..)
    at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(DashoA10*..)

The way out:

The 32-bit installer works. Execute the following steps.

1. Check Run this program in compatibility mode for: check box and select Windows 7 in the drop down.
Also check Run this program as an administrator check box as shown in the screenshot below.


2. Open command prompt (Run as administrator) and navigate to the directory containing biee_client_install.exe and execute the following command.

biee_client_install -i silent

Note that biee_client_install is the name of my 32 bit OBIEE client installer.
You can also use biee_client_install -i console command.

biee_client_install -i console will give you more freedom to choose the directory in which you want to install and the directory in which you want to create your short cuts.
 


All done. You will now get the ODBC popup to create the DSN.


If you choose the silent mode then your short cut will be created in the following directory
C:\Users\<OS_User>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus Client

and your Client tools will be installed in
C:\Program Files\Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus Client Tools

Note: We are using 32 bit client tool for 64 bit OS and the OS is not going to like it. It took almost 15 mins for the admin tool to open up. It might take a similar time in your case too. The look of it is a little messed up too (Screenshot below).

The log file of your installation is C:\Program Files\Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus Client Tools\Oracle_Business_Intelligence_Enterprise_Edition_Plus_Client_InstallLog.xml

Go through your log file to find the error messages.

You can also use Windows 8 Hyper-V feature to create a VM, install an older version of Windows on it and then install OBIEE client tool on the VM (Lengthy process so I hate it ;-) )

Till next time ..

Updated 05/27/2015:

A user on linkedin mentioned the following.
11.1.1.9 was released recently. I'ts certification matrix says that the Client tools are certified for Win 8.1 http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi/bi-11gr1certmatrix-11-1-1-9-0-2541437.xls.

So you can use the process mentioned about if you are on version lower than 11.1.1.9.