1.4.9 blows up differently: Traceback (most recent call last): File "virtualenv-1.4.9\virtualenv.py", line 1489, in <module> main() File "virtualenv-1.4.9\virtualenv.py", line 526, in main use_distribute=options.use_distribute) File "virtualenv-1.4.9\virtualenv.py", line 616, in create_environment install_setuptools(py_executable, unzip=unzip_setuptools) File "virtualenv-1.4.9\virtualenv.py", line 361, in install_setuptools _install_req(py_executable, unzip) File "virtualenv-1.4.9\virtualenv.py", line 337, in _install_req cwd=cwd) File "virtualenv-1.4.9\virtualenv.py", line 587, in call_subprocess % (cmd_desc, proc.returncode)) OSError: Command C:\virtualenvs\test\Scripts\python.exe -c "#!python \"\"\"Bootstrap setuptoo... I had to go back to 1.3.4 to get a workinging virtualenv :-( Chris -- Simplistix - Content Management, Batch Processing & Python Consulting - http://www.simplistix.co.uk