It runs p4.exe twice.
First: p4.exe files E:\src......\Myfile.c
Second: p4.exe print //depot/branch/....../Myfile.c
Both times, apparently with the correct CD.
The second instance is hanging for a long time trying to connect to the wrong server.
I found, using PROCMON.exe, that the only significant difference is that the Second time the ENV VAR "PWD" is set.
PWD isn't a normal Windows environment variable.
PWD is set to "//depot/branch/......"
So that isn't even a legal path, but perforce is attempting to access:
\\depot\branche\.......\sd.ini
And it does this several times as it tried to walk up the directory tree looking for "sd.ini".
Look here, under "esoteric":
http://filehost.perforce.com/perforce/r97.3/doc/cmdguide/html/envvars.htm