MySQL connection with pipes (XP)

I need to be able to access MySQL through pipes on Windows/XP. According to the documentation I start the server with:

mysql\bin\mysqld --defaults-file=mysql\bin\my.ini --enable-named-pipe --standalone --console

when I try to connect I use:
mysql\bin\mysql --pipe -u root -p

I get the error message:
ERROR 2017 (HY000): Can't open named pipe to host: . pipe: MySQL(2)

I have been through the forums and the MySQL documentation. The 5.1 documentation I have says that I must use mysqld-nt.exe to use pipes but the documentation with xamp does not. I have tried using msqld-debug.exe also with no success.

When I start the server with --enable-named-pipe SHOW VARIABLES 'named-pipe' is 'ON'.

I have also tried modifying the mysql.ini file to uncomment skip-networking and comment out skip-federated.

The server seems to know that I have enabled pipes but doesn't actually get them setup.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
-Tom