diff --git a/bin/createWindowsBinaryPackage b/bin/createWindowsBinaryPackage
index 99142851f..93caa684b 100755
--- a/bin/createWindowsBinaryPackage
+++ b/bin/createWindowsBinaryPackage
@@ -35,6 +35,22 @@
 
 cd ${0%/*} || exit 1    # run from this directory
 
+create_package() {
+    RELEASE_DIR=$1
+    TYPE=$2
+
+    PACKAGE_FILE=$RELEASE_DIR.$TYPE
+    echo ""
+    echo "Creating $PACKAGE_FILE ..."
+    7z -t$TYPE a $PACKAGE_FILE $RELEASE_DIR
+    
+    if [ -f $PACKAGE_FILE ] ; then
+        echo "Successfully created $PACKAGE_FILE"
+    else
+        echo "Failed to create $PACKAGE_FILE"
+    fi
+}
+
 echo
 echo "=========== FOAM-EXTEND WINDOWS STAND-ALONE PACKAGE CREATION SCRIPT ==========="
 
@@ -60,7 +76,6 @@ cp -rp $FOAM_APPBIN $RELEASE_DIR/bin
 echo "Copying DLLs from lib directory ..."
 mkdir $RELEASE_DIR/lib
 cp -p $FOAM_LIBBIN/*.dll $RELEASE_DIR/lib
-cp -p $FOAM_LIBBIN/*.dll $RELEASE_DIR/lib
 mkdir $RELEASE_DIR/lib/$MPI_VERSION
 cp -p $FOAM_MPI_LIBBIN/*.dll $RELEASE_DIR/lib/$MPI_VERSION
 
@@ -76,13 +91,7 @@ cp -p $WM_PROJECT_DIR/bin/paraFoam.bat $RELEASE_DIR/bin
 cp -p $WM_PROJECT_DIR/COPYING $RELEASE_DIR/LICENSE.txt
 unix2dos $RELEASE_DIR/LICENSE.txt
 
-echo "Zipping up $RELEASE_DIR ..."
-PACKAGE_FILE=$RELEASE_DIR.zip
-7z a $PACKAGE_FILE $RELEASE_DIR
-rm -rf $RELEASE_DIR
+create_package $RELEASE_DIR zip
+#create_package $RELEASE_DIR 7z
 
-if [ -f $PACKAGE_FILE ] ; then
-    echo "Successfully created $PACKAGE_FILE"
-else
-    echo "Failed to create $PACKAGE_FILE"
-fi
+rm -rf $RELEASE_DIR
diff --git a/bin/foamWindowsShell.bat b/bin/foamWindowsShell.bat
index 3c106fd0a..c85dbb6a4 100644
--- a/bin/foamWindowsShell.bat
+++ b/bin/foamWindowsShell.bat
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 @echo off
 
 set FOAM_HOME=%~dp0
+set FOAM_HOME=%FOAM_HOME:~0,-1%
 call %FOAM_HOME%\setWindowsEnvironment.bat
 mode 160,40
 color 81
diff --git a/bin/setWindowsEnvironment.bat b/bin/setWindowsEnvironment.bat
index aefe0fcb6..506f2ec8b 100644
--- a/bin/setWindowsEnvironment.bat
+++ b/bin/setWindowsEnvironment.bat
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ rem set PARAVIEW_HOME=C:\Programs\ParaView-4.3.1
 rem ==============================================
 
 set FOAM_HOME=%~dp0
+set FOAM_HOME=%FOAM_HOME:~0,-1%
 set WM_PROJECT_DIR=%FOAM_HOME%
 
 set MPI_BUFFER_SIZE=20000000
diff --git a/doc/buildInstructions/Windows/READMEBinaryPackage.txt b/doc/buildInstructions/Windows/READMEBinaryPackage.txt
index 9b405246d..e2f303b57 100644
--- a/doc/buildInstructions/Windows/READMEBinaryPackage.txt
+++ b/doc/buildInstructions/Windows/READMEBinaryPackage.txt
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
 
 INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO INSTALL AND RUN THE WINDOWS VERSION OF FOAM-EXTEND
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1) Unzip the package .zip to any suitable location on your computer.
+1) Unzip the package file to any suitable directory (with no whitespaces) on your computer.
 
 2) Install OpenMPI if you do not already have it. You can download this from:
        http://www.open-mpi.org/software/ompi/v1.6/downloads/OpenMPI_v1.6.1-1_win64.exe
diff --git a/etc/bashrc.mingw b/etc/bashrc.mingw
index 143e3286c..fd08e6571 100644
--- a/etc/bashrc.mingw
+++ b/etc/bashrc.mingw
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ set_system_paths() {
     export GIT_HOME=$PROGRAMS_HOME/Git
     export MINGW_HOME=$PROGRAMS_HOME/mingw64
     export MPI_ROOTDIR=$PROGRAMS_HOME/OpenMPI_v1.6.1-x64
+    export PARAVIEW_HOME=$PROGRAMS_HOME/ParaView-4.3.1
     #export PERL_HOME=$PROGRAMS_HOME/strawberry-perl-5.20.2.1-64bit/perl
     export PEXPORTS_HOME=$PROGRAMS_HOME/pexports
     export PYTHON_HOME=$PROGRAMS_HOME/Python27
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ setup_foam_env() {
     FOAM_ETC_DIR=$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )
     export FOAM_INST_DIR=$(readlink -f $FOAM_ETC_DIR/../..)
     export FOAM_VERBOSE=1
+    export MPI_VERSION_MINGW=openmpi-1.6.1
     export WM_OSTYPE=MSWindows
     echo "Sourcing: $FOAM_ETC_DIR/bashrc" 
     . $FOAM_ETC_DIR/bashrc