[Samba] Puzzle -- Logon/Login from Windows XP

[AndyLiebman at aol.com]

I hope somebody can help me with this. I posed this question a week ago and 
got several well-meaning answers that were not very helpful. 

I have 10 Windows XP workstations and 100 users. Each of the 100 users has an 
account on my Samba server (running Samba 3.03  on Mandrake Linux 10). 

Each user has several shares on the Samba server which are unique to that 
user. In other words, only THAT user can access his/her shares, and THAT user has 
read/write priviledges for those shares. 

BTW,  I define each user's shares by listings in "smb.username.conf" files 
and the "include=smb.%U.conf" option (I may have that backwards it may be 
"username.smb.conf" and "include=%U.smb.conf", I have it right on my server.) 

The problem is, I need each of my 100 users to be able to logon to the Samba 
server (with READ/WRITE access to their own shares) from any of the 10 Windows 
XP workstations. It's not a problem if the user has an account on the XP 
machine that matches the username and password on the Linux Samba server. 

But users don't have their own machines and it's impractical to create 100 
user accounts on EACH Windows XP workstation. Especially when the list of users 
changes every few months. 

So my question is, how can those 100 users logon to the Samba server from ANY 
workstation without having an account on the Windows XP workstation that 
matches their username/password on the Samba server? 

I have a clumsy workaround right now, but I need something better. This is 
what I can do now:  

-- I have a Samba share that is accessible to everyone. 
-- In Windows XP, if I "map network drive" on that share and select "connect 
using different username", I get an opportunity to enter the username and 
password for the specific user. 
-- Once the Windows XP machine connects to the Samba server, the Samba server 
"knows" who the user is and displays a list of the user's own unique shares 
-- which can then be mapped as well. 

The thing that's awkward about this technique, however, is that I'm having to 
map a public share JUST to communicate to the Samba server the username and 
password. 

Isn't there a way to get the Samba server to ask for a username and password 
when the user clicks on the name of the Samba server in Explorer? 

That's what happens when I click on the name of a Windows XP machine (XP 
Machine 1) from another Windows XP machine (XP Machine 2) when I'm logged on to 
Machine 2 with a username and password that does not match an account on XP 
Machine 1.  I get a dialog box asking for a username and password. If I enter a 
username that has an account on the first machine -- and the matching password 
-- I connect and get read/write access to all shared drives and folders. 

I want to get the same dialog box when I click on the Linux Samba server. But 
how? 

Thanks in advance for the help. 

Regards, 
Andy Liebman