10.3 Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?

During startup, Emacs initializes itself according to a given code/file order. If some of the code executed in your .emacs file needs to be postponed until the initial terminal or window-system setup code has been executed but is not, then you will experience this problem (this code/file execution order is not enforced after startup).

To postpone the execution of Emacs Lisp code until after terminal or window-system setup, treat the code as a lambda list and set the value of either the term-setup-hook or window-setup-hook variable to this lambda function. For example,

     (add-hook 'term-setup-hook
               (lambda ()
                (when (string-match "\\`vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
                  ;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x:
                  (global-set-key [do] 'execute-extended-command))))

For information on what Emacs does every time it is started, see the lisp/startup.el file.