6.3 Why do I get an error message when I try to run M-x shell?

This might happen because Emacs tries to look for the shell in a wrong place. If you know where your shell executable is, set the variable explicit-shell-file-name in your .emacs file to point to its full file name.

Some people have trouble with Shell Mode on MS-Windows because of intrusive antivirus software; disabling the resident antivirus program solves the problems in those cases.