samba - Sep 1997 - 2nd try: error msg, "the network path was not found"

Hello Samba Fans,

I cannot reliably connect to my samba-ized unix directories from the
windoze clients my company is using.  I'm using samba 1.9.15p8 on SGI
irix 5.3, 6.2, and 6.4 workstations, and trying to connect with windoze
95, nt3.51, and nt4.0.

Here are the symptoms:

1) when i ask a windoze client to show the hosts in a given domain (via
the "File Manager" or the "Network Neighborhood", about 10%
of the time,
the unix boxes with samba "filespace services" (i.e. samba-ized shared
directories) don't even appear.

2) when i ask a windoze client to show the "shared directories" of a
given unix host (via the "File Manager" or "Network
Neighborhod", 90% of
the time the windoze client says, "the network path was not found".

even if i type the path like "\\unixhost\sharename" in the
"path" field
of the file manager, i get the same error message.

3) all but two of the unix boxes with samba filespace shares are
rebooted automatically every night.  The two that aren't rebooted are
usually very reliably connected to from a windoze client.


Here is some debugging info:


1) i can ping the unix box from the widoze client, and vice versa.

2) on the unix box, i can get a list of available shares via "smbclient
-L unixbox -U%".

3) on unixbox, "nmblookup -B unixbox __SAMBA__" returns the ip address
of the unixbox.

4) on unixbox, "nmblookup -d 2 '*'" recieves a large number of
"Got a
positive name query response" messages.

5) on unixbox, i'm able to connect to samba share "sharename" via
"smbclient '\\unixbox\sharename' -U guest".

6) from a windoze client, when i type "net use x: \\unixbox\sharename"
at a dos prompt, i get this error msg: "System error 53 has occurred. 
The network path was not found."


What Am I Trying to Do?:


1) i want a unix workstation's user's home directories to be accessable
from a windoze client, but for that user only;

2) i want every unix workstation to have a directory that is
read&write-able by any windoze client (kind of like an anonymous ftp
site), with no passwd necessary.


Any ideas on where i've gone wrong?

I've attached the typical unixbox's smb.conf for reference.

aTdHvAaNnKcSe
-- 
Happy Landings,

	Jon Detert	metco@execpc.com	414.783.8527
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;
; IRIX smbd configuration file.
;
; This shares all printers and user directories on your LAN.
; See the man page on smb.conf(5) for more details.
;
[global]
	browseable=yes
	;load printers=yes
	;lpq command=/bin/lpstat %p
	;lprm command=/bin/cancel %p-%j
	;print command=/bin/lp -d%p -oraw %s
	;printcap name=|/bin/lpstat -p | awk '{print $2}'
	;printing=SYSV
	dead time = 5
	message command = csh -c hey %t < %s; rm %s &
	security = share
	server string = %h
	smbrun = /usr/local/samba/bin/smbrun
	username map = /usr/local/samba/lib/users.map
	workgroup = ENGINEERING
[homes]
	browseable=no
	writable=yes
	force group = user
[public]
	comment = jon detert's shared files
	guest account = guest
	public = yes
	writable = yes
	max connections = 5
	path = /usr/people/jon/public
	share modes = no