Samba does not accept my password

This is how I resolved the issue.

from a terminal box type sudo smbpasswd -a <user name> you'll be asked for a password, use your normal one

then you'll be asked for a new "SMB" password... sync it with the usual one by typing in you password again then confirming it...

Shares were instantly accessible from Win7 using Ubuntu user name and password

What did you use to change your password? Samba does not automatically use your user password, your first have to add your user to samba with smbpasswd -a <user>

*from http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/adding-a-user-to-a-samba-smb-share/