I recently installed Oracle 11g R2 on a Windows 8.1 machine, but for some reason SQL Developer does not seem to launch easily.  **What specific steps do I need to take in order to launch a working SQL Developer instance?**  
  
Here are my steps so far (There are print screens in hyperlinks below because I do not have enough reputation points to embed the print screens in this posting.):  
  
1.) I searched for SQL Developer in Windows 8 and clicked to launch the resulting entry for the program.    
    
2.) The resulting dialog box then said it was searching for a named `SQLDEVELOPER.bat` file, and when it could not find the `SQLDEVELOPER.bat` file, it gave the following dialog box suggesting that it use a different `selecthome.bat` file instead:  http://s23.postimg.org/4nr1d1r8b/sql_developer_delete.jpg  
  
3.) I hesitated to authorize what looks like a hard to un-do setting, so I looked in the windows file system and found the following items in the root directory of Sql Developer:  http://s30.postimg.org/5vtk3k269/sql_developer_directory.jpg  
  
Note that there is a `sqldeveloper.sh` file in the directory.  There is also a `sqldeveloper.exe` file, but clicking on that file does not launch the program.  
  
**So what steps need to be taken in order to successfully launch Sql Developer?**
  
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**ONGOING EFFORTS:**  
  
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I followed the advice of @SoleDBGuy and downloaded and installed a newer version of SQL Developer.  But I am not yet able to make a database connection from it to validate that the new SQL Developer can work with my existing 11G R2 installation.  
  
I validated that the 11G R2 installation is running and that I know the password by using the windows command line to connect by typing `sqlplus system/password`, where password is the real password.  
  
But I am not yet able to connect to the same 11G R2 instance with the same credentials through the new SQL Developer because the `xe` listener is being rejected.  I looked this up and it seems that the `xe` listener is associated with the `express edition`.  This may be the problem as I installed the enterprise edition of Oracle 11G R2.  I did not install the express edition.  
  
So my next step is to try to determine what listener to use to connect to the enterprise edition, and to try replacing `xe` with the name of the correct listener for the enterprise edition.  If this works, then I will have validated a solution and resolved this question.  
  
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**RESOLUTION:**  
  
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I was able to validate @SoleDBGuy's approach by creating a connection using `orcl` as the `SID` in the SQL Developer Add New Connection Wizard.  Initially, the connection wizard was not connecting because the default listener is `ex`, which is for the express edition.  I installed the enterprise edition, so the `ex` listener did not work and I had to use the `orcl` edition instead.  
  
Once I connected to the database, I then validated that it was the correct database by running the query `select tablespace_name from users_tablespaces;`.  When I saw the correct table spaces, I was able to validate @SoleDBGuy's approach and mark his answer as accepted.