Success! Fully qualifying the Perl directory fixed the problem. This worked OK: 
exec 'c:\perl\bin\perl print_2.pl';

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The path string is different, and in fact incorrect, on the machine where it fails. The real solution is to fix the path string so the code is not machine-dependent. Thanks!

In reply to Re^6: EXEC fails, sometimes by simpsope
in thread EXEC fails, sometimes by simpsope

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