"Sorry, but 3 release candidates have already been released since :-)"

Ok, good catch, I meant RC3 - brain not fully engaged before typing....


"aliases.conf and firebird.msg are located differently. The former one
is loaded by the server and the registry entry is not required for
that (although it will be used if exists). The latter one is read by
the client library and if it's located outside the firebird's /bin,
then you'll need a registry entry *or* you'll need to put firebird.msg
one level up than fbclient/gds32 resides."

I agree with you that that is what should be happening. I loaded
firebird in "c:\programs\firebird". The bin directory is under this -
"c:\programs\firebird\bin". ( Basically, the structure is unmodified
after the unzip. ). Problem is that when I remove the registry entry,
aliases.conf and firebird.msg are not being found - even though they
are in the directory "c:\programs\firebird" - one above the bin directory.

Thanks for you ideas so far.