Terminal in Emacs in Windows - Error message: "Spawning child process; invalid argument"

Amelio Vazquez-Reina picture Amelio Vazquez-Reina · Dec 26, 2010 · Viewed 17.1k times · Source

I'm trying to start a cmd terminal in Emacs 23.2 (latest version) in Windows.

According to the Manual, I can enter in terminal mode (starting a new buffer for the terminal) in Emacs by typing M-x term.

When I do this, I get prompted for:

Run program: path_to-emacs/bin/cmdproxy.exe

When I type RET, I get the following error message in the minibuffer:

Spaning child process: invalid argument

Any ideas how to make it work?

Thanks,

Answer

Bleeding Fingers picture Bleeding Fingers · Jun 28, 2013

The following should do:

  • M-:(make-comint-in-buffer "cmd" nil "cmd" nil)

  • M-xeshell

  • M-xshell

All have both their pros and cons. So choose what suits you best.