No need to fatal () on startup if $PWD doesn't exist; chdir to "/" instead. src/ChangeLog addition: 2009-11-08 Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> * sysfile.h (DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_FALLBACK): New #define, "/" on Unix and "C:\\" on Win32 native, a directory that should "always" be available. * fileio.c (Fexpand_file_name): Use DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_FALLBACK here, instead of conditionalising on WIN32_NATIVE. * editfns.c (get_home_directory): Use DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_FALLBACK if looking up the home directory fails, on both Windows and Unix. * buffer.c (init_initial_directory): Don't give a fatal error if the current directory doesn't exist, chdir to DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_FALLBACK instead.

--- a/src/fileio.c	Mon Nov 02 14:00:49 2009 +0900
+++ b/src/fileio.c	Sun Nov 08 17:27:26 2009 +0000
@@ -790,11 +790,7 @@
   if (NILP (default_directory))
     default_directory = current_buffer->directory;
   if (! STRINGP (default_directory))
-#ifdef WIN32_NATIVE
-    default_directory = build_string ("C:\\");
-#else
-    default_directory = build_string ("/");
-#endif
+    default_directory = build_string (DEFAULT_DIRECTORY_FALLBACK);
 
   if (!NILP (default_directory))
     {