[Samba] Long Delay on Fresh Windows 7 Clients

[smbatsc at gmx.com]

For testing purposes, I am running Windows 7 on a VM (VMWare), reverting to "fresh install" Windows 7 frequently. This Windows 7 client, needs to access a share on a local Samba server (Samba 3.0.23a-1 running on Fedora Core 4).

When I type \\sambahost\sharename, a prompt for the username and password will eventually appear (and let me authenticate successfully) but it takes almost forever (i.e. 1-5 minutes) until that prompt dialog box appears.

Once I login successfully, I no longer experience that delay (as if Windows 7 remembers all the details about this connection) -- ever after a reboot.

My problem however is that once I revert back to "fresh install", Windows 7 no longer has this memory and that long frustrating delay occurs again.

My question: Is there anything I can do on the Samba server side (smb.conf ?) to eliminate this delay? BTW, there is no such delay with "fresh install" Windows XP.

Thanks,
Daniel