I too had many bad experiences trying to compile .pl files into .exe files. Have you looked at parl ( the perl archive tool kit) on the CPAN? Among many other wonderful tools, parl will package your script with the perl executable and present you with your very own .exe file. Parl is also smart enough to grab any modules that your script might need as well. http://search.cpan.org/~autrijus/PAR-0.87/script/parl.pod