sqldeveloper ORA-12505. TNS: listener does not currently know of SID given in connect descriptor

There are similar questions asked and answered in this network related to the error message given in the question, however this problem is a little different from each.

I have installed oracle 12c in my ubuntu can successfully connect to my hr user with sqlplus hr/hr@pdborcl through command prompt.

oracle@ubuntu:~$ sqlplus hr/hr@pdborcl
SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.2.0 Production on Mon Nov 16 21:57:24 2015
Copyright (c) 1982, 2014, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Last Successful login time: Mon Nov 16 2015 21:24:32 +05:45
Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

SQL>show user;
USER is "HR"

I am however trying to use sqldeveloper for ease. In the create connection option in sqldeveloper when I give the following credentials

I get the following error.

ORA-12505. TNS: listener does not currently know of SID given in connect descriptor.

However connection with

Username: sys

Password:

SID:orcl

And same all other credentials work fine.

My tnsname.ora has

PDBORCL =
  (DESCRIPTION =
   (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = localhost)(PORT = 1521))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
    (SERVER = DEDICATED)
    (SERVICE_NAME = pdborcl)
   )
 )

ORCL =
 (DESCRIPTION =
  (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = localhost)(PORT = 1521))
  (CONNECT_DATA =
    (SERVER = DEDICATED)
    (SERVICE_NAME = orcl)
  )
 )

I had the same problem. And I solved it by using SERVICE NAME (an alias) instead of SID:

1. Open file tnsnames.ora from your ORACLE_HOME folder. In case you don't know its location, do the following steps

Windows (open cmd)

> sqlplus // connect to sqlplus, login as sysdba
 as / sysdba
 // then type your password that you set in configuration setup step
 // next 3 lines used for getting ORACLE_HOME
 > var OHM varchar2(100);
 > EXEC dbms_system.get_env('ORACLE_HOME', :OHM);
 > PRINT OHM // ---> ORACLE_HOME

Linux (open Terminal Ctrl+Alt+T)

echo $ORACLE_HOME

tnsnames.ora is located at [Your_ORACLE_HOME]/Network/Admin. Open it with your editor.

1. In tnsnames.ora file, look for the line which contains the SERVICE_NAME

1. Select Service name and type above name, TEST success and you've done!

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#121251, answer score: 5