KenJackson wrote: > Error 5 is ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED. Maybe permissions aren't getting set right. You might be onto something. But first of all, are you sure 'Error 5' is the same as status c0000005? Why you might be onto something is the ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32$ is completely empty. At one stage there was still some data in it (before I removed and re-installed) but now no matter how many times I remove and re-install this folder stays empty. I am installing wine from Synaptics. The version reported is: wine-1.0.1 I also tried installing wine from the latest repositries http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-wine/ppa/ubuntu This installs wine 1.1.31 wine notepad gives the same error. err:module:attach_process_dlls "shell32.dll" failed to initialize, aborting err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Main exe initialization for L"C:\\windows\\system32\\notepad.exe" failed, status c0000005 Still no joy. Getting kind of desperate. Thanks for everyone who has responded so far.