title: Python cx_Oracle Client Library Cannot Be Loaded
body: <p>I am trying to connect to an Oracle database but python script cannot find cx_Oracle.  Here is my script:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import cx_Oracle
  con = cx_Oracle.connect(‘DBNAME/testitout@www.xx.yy.zz:1521/yeppers’)
  print(con.version)
  con.close()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is the error I get:</p>
  
  <pre><code>================= RESTART: C:\Python35\Connect_To_Oracle.py =================
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "C:\Python35\Connect_To_Oracle.py", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
     import cx_Oracle
  cx_Oracle.DatabaseError: DPI-1047: Oracle Client library cannot be loaded: The specified module could not be found. See https://oracle.github.io/odpi/doc/installation.html for help
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here is my O/S and version info:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Intel Xeon CPU E7-4870 @ 2.40GHz</li>
  <li>Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise</li>
  <li>Python 3.5</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Here is what I did to install cx_Oracle:</p>
  
  <pre><code>1. Download Instant Client (Basic Client) from Oracle here : http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/winx64soft-089540.html .
  2. Unzip.
  3. I added a new System Variable called ORACLE_HOME and pointed it to c:\Down\InstantClient , which is where I unzipped the above.  This is what I downloaded: instantclient-basic-windows.x64-12.2.0.1.0
  4. You have to download the whl file from here: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/cx_Oracle/  To do this, you need to know your version of Python and your type of processor.  
  5. You download into the scripts folder and then run pip install wheelfilename.whl
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can someone please let me know what they think that error stems from?</p>