Samba – windows 7 samba login error

Typically when you get that kind of prompt, the XP box is looking to authenticate against something and failing. Does this network have a domain? If so, is the OS X machine part of that domain?

The login you provide must match either a domain account or an account that exists on the machine it's connecting to that has permission to that share.

For example, let's say I have a domain called, "MyDomain.local" with a server called, "MyServer". If the account you're using exists in the domain, you'd have to type in the username like this: "MyDomain\Username". If the account does not belong to the domain and only exists on the server, then it'd be "MyServer\Username".

Based on the fact that the XP box is coming back with the name of the server, I'm guessing that the account does not exist on the server.

From http://blog.realcomputerguy.com/2010/12/samba-and-guest-shares-with-security.html?spref=tw

In a nutshell you need:

• A username map file.
• A valid 'nix "guest" user mapped to the Windows guest account ("nobody" in most distros).
• Proper smb.conf configuration.

In this example our username map file is /etc/samba/smbusers. It maps a 'nix user to a Windows user.

In /etc/samba/smbusers (many distros include this file, but with the default commented out):

nobody = guest

In /etc/samba/smb.conf:

[global]
   ...
   security = user
   Map to guest = Bad User
   username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
   ...
-- no 'valid users =' line --

[theshare]
   ...
   guest ok = yes
-- no 'valid users =' line --