diff --git a/tools/pg-release.py b/tools/pg-release.py
index 2aa0c114..ac32b199 100644
--- a/tools/pg-release.py
+++ b/tools/pg-release.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ description="Build release packages for pyqtgraph."
 epilog = """
 Package build is done in several steps:
 
-    * Attempt to clone branch release-x.y.z from %s
+    * Attempt to clone branch release-x.y.z from source-repo
     * Merge release branch into master
     * Write new version numbers into the source
     * Roll over unreleased CHANGELOG entries
@@ -37,9 +37,12 @@ Building deb packages requires several dependencies:
     * python-all, python3-all
     * python-stdeb, python3-stdeb
     
-Building windows .exe files should be possible on any OS. Note, however, that
+Note: building windows .exe files should be possible on any OS. However, 
 Debian/Ubuntu systems do not include the necessary wininst*.exe files; these
-must be manually copied from the Python source.
+must be manually copied from the Python source to the distutils/command 
+submodule path (/usr/lib/pythonX.X/distutils/command). Additionally, it may be
+necessary to rename (or copy / link) wininst-9.0-amd64.exe to 
+wininst-6.0-amd64.exe.
 
 """
 
@@ -152,7 +155,7 @@ def build(args):
             # Build windows executables
             cd {build_dir}/pyqtgraph
             python setup.py build bdist_wininst --plat-name=win32
-            python setup.py build bdist_wininst
+            python setup.py build bdist_wininst --plat-name=win-amd64
             cp dist/*.exe {pkg_dir}
         """.format(**args.__dict__))
         args.exe_status = 'built'    
diff --git a/tools/release_instructions.md b/tools/release_instructions.md
index 0a9d9d80..b3b53efa 100644
--- a/tools/release_instructions.md
+++ b/tools/release_instructions.md
@@ -3,26 +3,29 @@ PyQtGraph Release Procedure
 
 1. Create a release-x.x.x branch
 
-2. Run build-pg-release script
+2. Run pyqtgraph/tools/pg-release.py script (this has only been tested on linux)
     - creates clone of master
     - merges release branch into master
     - updates version numbers in code
     - creates pyqtgraph-x.x.x tag
     - creates release commit
-    - builds source dist
-    - test pip install
-    - builds windows dists
-    - builds deb dist
+    - builds documentation
+    - builds source package
+    - tests pip install
+    - builds windows .exe installers (note: it may be necessary to manually
+      copy wininst*.exe files from the python source packages)
+    - builds deb package (note: official debian packages are built elsewhere;
+      these locally-built deb packages may be phased out)
 
 3. test build files
     - test setup.py, pip on OSX
     - test setup.py, pip, 32/64 exe on windows
     - test setup.py, pip, deb on linux (py2, py3)
     
-4. Run upload-release script
-    - pip upload
-    - github push + release
+4. Run pg-release.py script again with --publish flag
     - website upload
+    - github push + release
+    - pip upload
 
 5. publish
     - update website
diff --git a/tools/shell.py b/tools/shell.py
index 351f7a3d..76667980 100644
--- a/tools/shell.py
+++ b/tools/shell.py
@@ -11,19 +11,19 @@ def shell(cmd):
     for line in cmd.split('\n'):
         line = line.strip()
         if line.startswith('#'):
-            print '\033[33m> ' + line + '\033[0m'
+            print('\033[33m> ' + line + '\033[0m')
         else:
-            print '\033[32m> ' + line + '\033[0m'
+            print('\033[32m> ' + line + '\033[0m')
         if line.startswith('cd '):
             os.chdir(line[3:])
-        proc.stdin.write(line + '\n')
-        proc.stdin.write('echo $? 1>&%d\n' % pout)
+        proc.stdin.write((line + '\n').encode('utf-8'))
+        proc.stdin.write(('echo $? 1>&%d\n' % pout).encode('utf-8'))
         ret = ""
         while not ret.endswith('\n'):
             ret += os.read(pin, 1)
         ret = int(ret.strip())
         if ret != 0:
-            print "Error, bailing out."
+            print("\033[31mLast command returned %d; bailing out.\033[0m" % ret)
             sys.exit(-1)
     proc.stdin.close()
     proc.wait()