Disk access/permission problem - simplified question

[rikona]

Been working on this - let me try a simplified question.

New 16.04 box. I can access any folder in /home from a win box, using
the sharing set up with the Files tool - works OK.

In 16.04 USB disks mount as /media/user/diskname. I tried to share
this diskname both with Nautilus sharing and via smb.conf - neither
one works. I changed the permissions for the entire diskname to
everyone can read/write, and allowed guest sharing. From the win box,
I get "access denied."

Diskname has permissions for everyone, but /media and /media/user are
still owned by root with NO ACCESS. I tried making /media and
/media/user read/write for everyone - still does not work, but error
msg changed to "unknown user name or bad password" Using the same user
name in linux and win boxes. I did set up a user/pw for this user name
in samba. It does NOT prompt for a pw.

I did change the linux password on the 16.04 box [not = samba pw] - it
used to be the same for both the win box, the old 12.04 box, and
samba, which DID work for sharing the attached USB drive. Don't know
if, or why, a different linux pw would make a difference.

Any suggestions for debugging or fixing this would be much
appreciated.

Thanks,

 rikona