I am a firebird newbie so i would appreciate some help

i can only connect to my databases through the network name

ie with gbak it only works with \\server\dir\file.gdb rather than
c:\dir\file.gdb

this is despite being logged on at the server console

also, i cannot logon through the 'local server' in ibconsole but
again have
to go through the network path

this causes problems because when i create a new database, it has to
be
specified as the full network path and i am having difficulties
passing the
relevant connection string to interbase via php

i am sure there is a simple reason but your help is appreciated

ps i am sorry if this message appears twice