Question: Windows 7. Emacs 24.3.1. Git 1.8.1.msysgit.1. I have the following in my equivalent .emacs file:

```
(if (equal system-type 'windows-nt)
    (progn (setq explicit-shell-file-name
                 "C:/Program Files (x86)/Git/bin/sh.exe")
           (setq shell-file-name "bash")
           (setq explicit-sh.exe-args '("--login" "-i"))
           (setenv "SHELL" shell-file-name)
           (add-hook 'comint-output-filter-functions 'comint-strip-ctrl-m)))

```

This works great when I want to do *M-x shell*: I can pop open a shell and type "ls".

However, *M-x shell-command* is failing. When I try to run "ls" via shell-command (which should print its output in the \*Shell Command Output\* buffer, according to *C-h f shell-command*), I get a single error message:

"Searching for program: permission denied, bash"

There are some very old suggestions on the Google about *call-process* and many questions on StackOverflow about getting the shell to work in Emacs. Please note that *M-x shell* works great, and what I'd like to work is shell-command.

(Reason: <https://github.com/donkirkby/live-py-plugin#installing-the-emacs-mode>)

Answer: 
Try setting both variables to point to the same executable and make sure the path is in `exec-path`:

```
(setq explicit-shell-file-name
      "C:/Program Files (x86)/Git/bin/bash.exe")
(setq shell-file-name explicit-shell-file-name)
(add-to-list 'exec-path "C:/Program Files (x86)/Git/bin")

```
I know this is an older question, but I found it while I was searching for help on the same issue, so here's the solution I use for my particular use case, in case it helps someone in the future.

I sync up my `.emacs.d` between all computers I use emacs on, which includes both Linux & Windows machines. I inserted this into my `init.el` file to automatically deal with this issue appropriately in a Windows environment:

```
;; Set Windows-specific preferences if running in a Windows environment.
(defun udf-windows-setup () (interactive)
  ;; The variable `git-shell-path' contains the path to the `Git\bin'
  ;; file on my system. I install this in
  ;; `%USERPROFILE%\LocalAppInfo\apps\Git\bin'.
  (setq git-shell-path
        (concat (getenv "USERPROFILE") "\\LocalAppInfo\\apps\\Git\\bin"))
  (setq git-shell-executable
        (concat git-shell-path "\\bash.exe"))
  (add-to-list 'exec-path git-shell-path)
  (setenv "PATH"
          (concat git-shell-path ";"
                  (getenv "PATH")))
  (message "Windows preferences set."))

(if (eq system-type 'windows-nt)
    (udf-windows-setup))

```

Please note that the variable `git-shell-path` will need to be defined based on where you have `git` installed on your system. I install it in `%USERPROFILE%\LocalAppInfo\apps\Git` on the one Windows machine where I use it.