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&gt;&gt;I cannot imagine why having it in the PATH would hurt anything. 
 
FYI: &nbsp;It's in the installation docs that all the files need to be in the same directory. 
 
<a href="http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e16604/apd.htm#SQPUG157" rel="ugc">http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e16604/apd.htm#SQPUG157</a> 
 
 
1.Download the zip files containing the SQL*Plus Instant Client package, and the OCI package from the OTN Instant Client page at <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/oci/instantclient/instantclient.html" rel="ugc nofollow">http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/oci/instantclient/instantclient.html</a>. Both packages must be from the same version such as 11.1.0.6. 
 
2.Create a new directory, for example, /home/instantclient11_2 on UNIX or c:\instantclient11_2 on Windows. 
 
3.Unzip the two packages into the new directory. 
 

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Added my own comments as part of the solution because they help understand what the solution really was.
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Even though I believe I have all the ENV vars set properly Instant Client still throws errors. &nbsp;I'm on Win7 64bit. &nbsp;I'm using instantclient-basic-win-x86-64-11.2.0.1.0.zip (55,084,309 bytes) and instantclient-sqlplus-win-x86-64-11.2.0.1.0.zip (822,020 bytes) downloaded form link below. 
 

<pre><code class="code-10 nolinks" id="code-10-26599911-1">C:\Windows\system32&gt;path
PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin;C:\Oracle\in
stantclient_11_2\;C:\Oracle\instantclient_11_2\sqlplus\

C:\Windows\system32&gt;set ORACLE_HOME
ORACLE_HOME=C:\Oracle\instantclient_11_2

C:\Windows\system32&gt;sqlplus
Error 6 initializing SQL*Plus
SP2-0667: Message file sp1&lt;lang&gt;.msb not found
SP2-0750: You may need to set ORACLE_HOME to your Oracle software directory

C:\Windows\system32&gt;
</code></pre>
 
<a href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/winx64soft-089540.html" rel="ugc">http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/winx64soft-089540.html</a> 

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Even though I believe I have all the ENV vars set properly Instant Client still throws errors.  I'm on Win7 64bit.  I'm using instantclient-basic-win-x86-64-11.2.0.1.0.zip (55,084,309 bytes) and instantclient-sqlplus-win-x86-64-11.2.0.1.0.zip (822,020 bytes) downloaded form link below.

(CODE)

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/winx64soft-089540.html


Oracle Instant Client 11.2 Windows 64 bit &gt; SP2-0667: Message file sp1&lt;lang&gt;.msb not found

Oracle is an object-relational database management system. It supports a large number of languages and application development frameworks. Its primary languages are SQL, PL/SQL and Java, but it also includes support for C and C++. Oracle also has its own enterprise modules and application server software.

Oracle Instant Client 11.2 Windows 64 bit &gt; SP2-0667: Message file sp1&lt;lang&gt;.msb not found

Oracle Instant Client 11.2 Windows 64 bit > SP2-0667: Message file sp1<lang>.msb not found