Yes, the autofs (fstab) method would work as you require it to.
Each time you attempt to enter the mount point, it will try and connect to the Windows share if it is not already connected, and will fail silently if it can't.
You'll just see an empty folder if the Windows box is not available.
That I can help with hopefully! Two ways:-
Geeky way - which has the advantage that the share is mounted at startup and available to all users:-
Get a command prompt up and do: sudo nano
Add a line like this:-
hostname:/movies x url net,automounted,url==cifs://guest:@hostname/movies 0 0
Where 'hostname' is the name of your Windows box and 'movies' is the name of the share. You'll then find the shares in
Easy way - which is almost certainly adequate:-
Mount your shares the usual way.
Go to System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items and drag your shares into the Login Items.
Very odd indeed. I wonder if it is something to do with the fact that the files are on a Windows network share - can't see why that would matter but it's a possibility.
I know this is no help but it works fine here...
It wasn't particularly clear that you were only having problems with AVI's.
Given that you did not mention anywhere in your original post the correct way for setting a default application in OS X, I assumed that was the root of your problem.
So when you do it the way I suggest above, does the icon on your AVI files change to that of VLC or is it still showing the QuickTime icon?
File associations as the responsibility of Finder and have nothing to do with QuickTime or any other system settings. You could tell Finder to open AVI files in TextEdit if you really wanted to and it would blindly obey you - therefore, I don't really understand why you are having the problem you say you are.
Just to be absolutely clear, you are doing 'Right Click, Get Info, Open With, Change All'?
I couldn't get OS X to use VLC by default. Selecting "open with" VLC ALWAYS only works for that single file, not the file type, despite it saying so.
To set a default application for a file type in OS X, you do the following:-
Right click on any MKV file and choose 'Get Info'
In the 'Open With' section, choose VLC
Click the 'Change All...' button underneath.
All MKV files will now open by default in VLC
Your good nature will bring you unbounded happiness.
