The first attempt on logging into our Linux machine through SAMBA from my new XP-pro machine works, fine. I then select "save password" and reboot the XP workstation. Second login attempt fails with a dialogue saying that the <address here> isn't available and that "the username could not be found" (I get this before even being allowed to enter the usual username - root in this case).

I then edit the hosts file on my XP-pro workstation and create an alias for the linux machine and try to log in again. This time I get the login dialogue (!) I enter "root" as username and our password and select "Save password". I then reboot. After reboot, neither this new alias or the old dns name works. If I make a new alias in the local hosts file, then that works again and now I cannot select "save password" anymore as that would invalidate that alias too.

Any clues?

im a freebsd user but have had all sorts of problems with xp pro and samba. heres what i did to get it all working.

obviously smbpasswd -a your samba users.
in smb.conf in global make sure wins support=yes.

make sure your smb.conf contains your netbios name.

in your linux /etc/hosts file make sure your xp machines netbios name is in there e.g 192.168.1.101 myxpmachine.

check /etc/hosts for any mismatching ip addressed/syntax screw ups.

if youve done all this, and still nothing works, please email or pm me.

Id be happy to solve this problem by going into more detail.

thanks,
al.