I've never explicitly installed Samba in Ubuntu, I just right-click on a folder
and say Share it, and if it's right after I installed Ubuntu, Samba gets
installed. I have several computers, and always have a shared folder. I have
never had it fail. I have no idea if anything along the lines of samba-admin is
installed on my computer.

I use DHCP except for my printer. I don't share root, and I don't password
protect my shared folders.

My wife and step-son use Windows, because there is no Linux version of QQ, the
most popular Chinese Skype-like program. They also have shared folders and can
see my shared folders.