Sharing 10.8 SMB to Windows 7 - Need help

Question

I just set up my mini server running ML and I'm having some issues with setting up and accessing shares from a few Windows 7 machines. I'll list them out and hoping someone can tell me if this is normal or not.
Some information on set up:
OS version: 10.8.1
Server.app version: 2.0.23
Server mode: local only
Computer name: mini
Host name: mini.local
IP (Ethernet): 192.168.1.2
And here's the issues I'm running into:
On the Windows 7 machines, I can see the machine "MINI" in the Network section of the Explorer, but when I try to access the machine via that listing, it always times out... I can, however, access them machine through the Explorer by directly typing in the IP address of the server and it works fine... shouldn't I be able to view the shares directly from the computer listing in the Network section of the Explorer?
I set up one user in the Server.app as a "Services only" (no Home folder created) and I have two disks set up in the File Sharing section with that user having read/write permissions... now what's happening, is... when I access the server the only way I can right now, using the IP address, I still get a folder with the user name in addition to the two shares... if I go into that folder, at first it's empty, but then if I go into one of the shares and list the files then go back to the folder with the user name, it will list the contents of the last directory I opened in either of the shares... it's almost as if it's some sort of alias or something... is there any way to not have that folder show up?
Thanks!

Answer 1

EDIT: Thought of something you should try first before the hack below.
- Check to make sure the servics-only user has access to File Sharing service in Server.app.
I suspect you may be running into the same/similar problem I had with an FTP user that I set up as "service only". I created that local user to use with my xerox multifuntion for scanning to a network share. I couldn't connect to the FTP share even with an FTP client, the FTP user couldn't authenticate (edit: even with access to Filesharing and FTP services.)
I worked around this as follows:
- Launch the Users & Group System Preference (/Applications/System Preferences, then click "Users and Groups")
- Right click on your service-only "Share User" and select "Advanced Options".
- Note and make a copy of the value of "Login Shell". (I can't remember what it was originally, only that it had "null" in the value. I don't have my notes handy.)
- Replace the "Login Shell" with "/bin/bash" (without the quotes). If you want compare the value of "Login Shell" with any other user, e.g. the local admin account, who can login.
Try it again. It may work on the fly, I don't recall. But after I made that small change to "login shell" for my FTP service only user, I could authenticate to the share, and that user doesn't have a Home directory etiher.
Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately, before I can get to those steps, I think I need to figure out why the server (named "MINI") shows up in the Explorer on all my Windows machines, but times out when trying to access it that way... keep getting "Network Error: The network path was not found.", but I can always get to it by typing the IP direct on the Windows machines... when I click on it's named entry in the Explorer, I never get the typical Windows login prompt when accessing another machine... just sits there for ~15 seconds then pops up the Network Error dialog... but when I access it via IP address, the login prompt pops up immediately.
I've tried rebooting my router and every machine on my network and still having this issue... very frustrating (: