>I still have a couple of questions though. If I instantiate a dcom server from a remote box, should I reference files through a share on the server box, or with a path local to the box on which the server sits?

The serve is running on the remote box. Any files it accesses need to be pathed relative to that server, not the client. IOW, if you are using data files that reside an the server, you would use c:\Data\MyDatafile.

>Also, is there some way to get the server to show up under applications in dcomcnfg with the ability to set the security context, etc... specifically for that server?

As long as the server is registered and is Out-of-proc (it has to be for DCOM), then I have never seen a situation where it didn't show up. Did you also check under its CLSID?