Mac as a file server for windows -- mounting a mac disk at windows startup

Is there any way to use the Mac as a file server for a windows XP home service pack 1 system?
The best I can do is "mount disk at login". However, this fails to use the right username/password, and even then it fails to deal with programs that run outside of a user context, or with fast user switching (it seems every program gets a different set of drive letters to remote volume mappings).
Mac Mini 1.42 1G   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

And this is my problem.
In windows terms:
I want to assign a drive letter to a network drive, and have that be a machine-wide assignment, that is activated during bootup, and is visible to all users and services.
I can do that for an arbitrary partition that is physically attached to the machine.
I cannot seem to do that for any partition that is mounted over the network.
The problems are:
1. It doesn't map for every user,
2. It doesn't map for services that run when a user isn't logged in
3. It generates annoying inconsistencies in what programs see what.
Is there really no way for an XP box to use a file server? Even a microsoft file server? (if there is, how do I make my mac os with samba look like a real microsoft file server).
Annoying tidbit: The "conncet at login" information is stored in the user profile; if you rely on that, then the user profile cannot be stored with the rest of the user's personal files. If it weren't for that, I could probably live with a work around.
(2 to 1 someone will say "Xp Professional can do that trivially" and tell me to upgrade. I thought XP home was supposed to support home and small office networking, and I thought that included a single shared file server.)
Mac Mini 1.42 1G   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

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