Samba shares and qemu

I have been dual-booting for a few years now, and lately, I have spent more time in Mepis than in windows, and I think I'm ready to make the switch full time, but I still need windows for 2 programs that won't run in Linux while I'm at work.

I experimented with qemu and win98 last month, and I thought I could run these progs in an emulated environment, but I need access to my filesystems, which I have not yet been able to do through a qemu virtual windows.

I have read the docs about how to make samba shares available to the qemu console, but I have as yet been unsuccessful in getting any access to the filesystem. Maybe I'm just a bit thick, but I think I need some help to get over this first hurdle in the simplest terms that a noob can follow.

Anyone willing to give me a walk-through?

ps - I haven't got vmware because I can't afford it. Software costs 2-3 times as much in NZ when compared to the average pay packet vs the cost of the same titles in the US.

Mike P