[Samba] incomprehesible quirk

[pippo at bellnet.ca]

I am really quite puzzled as to why I have to edit smb.conf every time I 
want to print to the FreeBSD machine from Win2K. (Running FBSD 4.7, samba 
2.2.7 and cups 1.1.15.1_4.
When I log onto FBSD with username, password, I see the folders for the 
printers, home, tmp, etc. but no printer. (Only 1 installed - Epson Stylus 
Color 900).
I can access the shares on FBSD from Win2k, but there is no printer.
If I edit smb.conf, with insignificant changes not affecting the printer 
sections (Printers and Print$) the printer appears.
As a side note, I think that the Printer$ section may not be needed if I do 
not install any Windows or other special drivers - frankly, I don't know 
why it is even there :((
  It appears that editing smb.conf forces the smbd program to reread the 
smb.conf file. But why would it not have read it correctly in the first place?
Anyone out there understand this?
thanks in advance
PJ