Samba not showing public share et al.

[v.demartino2 at virgilio.it]

Server Box ():
Pentium 3
FreeBSD 5.3
Samba 3.0.7
connection to a windows 2000 LAN

Samba on the freebsd side has the following smb.conf:

----------------------------------------------------------------
[global]
   workgroup = MYCO
# 
   server string = VicBSD
   load printers = no
   log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
   log level = 1
   max log size = 50
   security = user
    nt acl support = no
        null passwords = yes
  encrypt passwords = yes
  smb passwd file = /usr/local/private/smbpasswd
   wins server = 192.168.201.122 192.168.201.121

[homes]
    read only=no
[public]
comment = %h Shared Public Directory
   path = /home/public
   force directory mode = 0777
   force create mode = 0777
   force group = nobody
   force user = nobody
   public = yes
   writeable = yes
   read only = no
   browseable = yes
---------------------------------------------------------

I gave /home/public permissions r,w,x for all the users and issued a 'smbpassword
-a -n nobody'.

With this configuration I can easily and reliably connect to my home share
providing a password.

BUT, I and other users are unable to connect from our Win2k or XP Pro boxes
directly to the public share. As a matter of fact windows:

1) Shows all the shares including an 'invented' nobody share not defined
elsewhere. This happens while I put browseable=yes only in the [public]
section of smb.conf and not in each share.
2) If we ask to connect to \\vicbsd\public I'm prompted for a userid and
password. Only giving the 'nobody' userid is possible to connect to the
share from within windows boxes. I mean not directly without being prompted.

Why is that 1) and 2) and what should I do to connect without being prompted
for userid and password?


Ciao
Vittorio