Some time ago, Ben Wing wrote... I've never seen that, just looking for a clue in CRT sources. The only place which produces this error is: ioinit.c (_ioinit): /* * Allocate and initialize the first array of ioinfo structs. This * array is pointed to by __pioinfo[0] */ if ( (pio = _malloc_crt( IOINFO_ARRAY_ELTS * sizeof(ioinfo) )) == NULL ) { _amsg_exit( _RT_LOWIOINIT ); /* RT error 6027 --kkm */ } IOINFO_ARRAY_ELTS is a macro, defined to 32. typedef struct { long osfhnd; /* underlying OS file HANDLE */ char osfile; /* attributes of file (e.g., open in text mode?) */ char pipech; /* one char buffer for handles opened on pipes */ #ifdef _MT int lockinitflag; CRITICAL_SECTION lock; #endif /* _MT */ } ioinfo; so that sizeof(ioinfo)==8, _MT is not defined. From dbgint.h, when _DEBUG is off (we are building with libc, compiled with debug off): #define _malloc_crt malloc Thus CRT uses our malloc in gmalloc.c, so you can break there and see why does it fail. I just set up a breakpoint in malloc(), and the first call to malloc seems to originate at that place: malloc(unsigned int 256) line 549 XEMACS! _ioinit + 17 bytes XEMACS! mainCRTStartup + 116 bytes cache_system_info() line 47 0082ffe0() 0082ffc0() Looks like the problem is that malloc() fails when called even for the first time. Big K