Following up on my own thoughts...
I've managed to make EpubCheck work on my PC by making the following minor changes:
1. lines 154-157
Code:
if iswindows:
# drive_letter = os.getenv("SystemDrive")
# line = re.sub(drive_letter, 'C^', line)
# line = re.sub(drive_letter.lower(), 'C^', line)
pathx = epub_path.replace(os.sep, '/')
line = re.sub(pathx, '', line)
and also comment out lines 191 and 192
Code:
# if iswindows:
# filename = os.path.basename(re.sub('C^', drive_letter, filename))
Only time will tell whether it's a robust solution or a temporary Band-Aid