This still seems to be happening in python 3.0 as well. Here is the output from >1. open cmd.exe >2. cd \python26 >3. python.exe Lib\idlelib\idle.py C:\Program Files\Python>python.exe Lib\idlelib\idle.py Traceback (most recent call last): File "Lib\idlelib\idle.py", line 22, in <module> idlelib.PyShell.main() File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\PyShell.py", line 1385, in main shell = flist.open_shell() File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\PyShell.py", line 276, in open_shell self.pyshell = PyShell(self) File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\PyShell.py", line 800, in __init__ OutputWindow.__init__(self, flist, None, None) File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\OutputWindow.py", line 16, in __init __ EditorWindow.__init__(self, *args) File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\EditorWindow.py", line 243, in __ini t__ self.update_recent_files_list() File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\idlelib\EditorWindow.py", line 761, in updat e_recent_files_list rf_file = open(self.recent_files_path, 'w') File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\io.py", line 278, in __new__ return open(*args, **kwargs) File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\io.py", line 222, in open closefd) File "C:\Program Files\Python\lib\io.py", line 615, in __init__ _fileio._FileIO.__init__(self, name, mode, closefd) IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'C:\\Users\\Isaac\\.idlerc\\recent-files. lst'