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This issue was discussed on comp.lang.python[1] and Roger
Upole suggested:

"""
Basically, gui apps like VS don't have a console, so
GetStdHandle returns 0.   _subprocess.GetStdHandle
returns None if the handle is 0, which gives the original
error.  Pywin32 just returns the 0, so the process gets
one step further but still hits the above error.

Subprocess.py should probably check the
result of GetStdHandle for None (or 0)
and throw a readable error that says something like
"No standard handle available, you must specify one"
"""

[1]http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2005-September/300744.html