samba - Jun 2007 - Mapping/linking Samba share to Windows FOLDER

This one is driving me nuts.  There has got to be some way to do it.  I
have a Windows application that is very limited on the folders it will
use.  It is installed in a base folder like C:\Program
Files\Application\app.exe.  It uses multiple folders under that, like
C:\Program Files\Application\myfile, C:\Program
Files\Application\yourfile, C:\Program Files\Application\bobsfile, etc.

Here's where the fun begins.  I have two locations which need to
synchronize a common folder between the two. So, in each location I have
the folder C:\Program Files\Application\share.  Location A is running
Windows Server 2003.  Location B is using Windows 2000.  My plan was to
have shares on the Samba box at each location and keep them up to date
with each other with rsync running frequently.  However, I have multiple
machines at each site that need to use the folder.  I cannot use a normal
map network drive, because I have to map to C:\Program
Files\Application\share.  It can't map to f:\share.  I have tried mounting
the Windows shares to the Samba box with smbmount, but that does not seem
to work with the Server 2003 shares.  They seem to mount okay, but some
users can see the mount and others can't.  Then I cannot unmount it.  When
I try to umount, I get a device busy error.  I use fuser -k
/shares/appshare and also tried lsof.  Neither show anything using the
mount, not does it seem to kill whatever is busying out the device.

I hope all of this makes some modicum of sense.  Thanks for any comments,
suggestions or ideas.

Michael

Michael Barnes wrote:
> I cannot use a normal map network drive, because I have to map to
C:\Program
> Files\Application\share.  It can't map to f:\share.
What about mapping to a drive and then using an NTFS "junction" to 
redirect it to the directory name you need? Not the neatest solution, 
but it is probably an option if I understood the problem correctly.

TB