[Samba] credentials file doesn't work

[Stony Yakovac]

I am using a Gentoo Linux machine and trying to mount a remote file
system via samba.  The following DOES WORK:
mount -t smbfs -o username="SMB-SRV\stonyy",password=abc123
//smbsrv/proj /mnt/proj
 
However, I don't really want my username and password visible to the
world (yes, I changed the password and everything but the backslash in
the username for this posting).  So I tried putting the following in a
file:
username="SMB-SRV\stonyy"
password=abc123

I then ran the following mount command which does NOT WORK:
mount -t smbfs -o credentials=/home/stonyy/credentials //smbsrv/proj
/mnt/proj

The error message is:
4544: session setup failed: ERRDOS - ERRnoaccess (Access denied.)
SMB connection failed

Very informative.  I have tried several different ways of typing the
username and I suspect the problem lies in the backslash in the
username, but I don't know how to debug the problem from here.  I am
using version 2.2.8a.

Anyone who has advice, I would like to hear it.  In the end, I would
like my automounter to mount this for me, but I run into this problem
whenever I put the username and password in a file. (I already tried
using the automounter with the username and password in the fstab and I
ran into the same error)

Stony