Thanks Sean and André.

From memory I tried connecting via a straight file system path. So for example, with gsec I did something like:
'gsec.exe -database "C:\path\to\db\file.fdb"'

I think, following the Firebird documentation, I also tried:
'gsec.exe -database "SERVERNAME:C:\path\to\db\file.fdb"'

I'll get the exact connection info from the office tomorrow.

We did have the firewall off and we did try the IBOconsole TCP/IP test which passed fine. There seems to be no problem getting to the 3050 port.

Cheers,
Doug

--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, André Knappstein <Knappstein@...> wrote:
>
> > The system was working on Windows XP. I am thinking there might be ACL issues but I'm unsure.
>
> Are you aware that on XP it was still possible to use named pipes for
> connection, while in Vista and higher (including Server2012) you
> *must* use TCP/IP and need to qualify an IP-Adress (alternatively
> "localhost")?
>
> This at least is the solution in some 90% of all cases where other
> Firebird users are asking me.
>