Troubleshooting: Oracle on Windows credential retrieval error

Issue

Errors messages indicating that there were problems retrieving credentials are showing up in the Oracle logs. Errors of this type are similar to the following:

[Oracle][ODBC][Ora]ORA-12638: Credential retrieval failed

This type of an error is the result of database connection problems.

Details

To prevent credential retrieval errors from appearing in the logs, turn off Oracle NTS authentication.

Note: After turning off Oracle NTS authentication, you can no longer log into the sqlplus utility without a password.

Solution

To turn off Oracle NTS authentication

1. Open the C:\oracle\product\10.2.0\db_1\NETWORK\ADMIN\sqlnet.ora file.

2. Search for the line where SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES is defined.

3. Change this line to:

   SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES=(NONE)

4. Save the file.