Previously, I wrote an article on how to setup and configure a Windows 7 HomeGroup. It’s a fairly straight-forward process and most people will not have issues getting it to work. However, as with any complicated feature of Windows, things can go wrong!
One of the main problems is that people simply cannot join a Windows 7 computer to a HomeGroup! HomeGroups are different than workgroups because they are supposed to make networking between Windows 7 computers super simple. Workgroups are what you had to use to share data between Vista and XP computers.
In this article, I will try to exhaustively go through all the different reasons why you may not be able to access your HomeGroup. If your problem is not solved below, post a comment and I’ll try to help you.
IPv6 Must Be Enabled
In order for to use the new Windows 7 HomeGroup feature, you have to make sure that IPv6 is enabled. You can check to see if IPv6 is enabled on your computer, click on Start and type in Network into the search box. Then click on Network and Sharing Center.
Then click on Change adapter settings in the left hand pane of the dialog:
Finally, right-click on your network connection and choose Properties. Here you should see Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) in the list and they should both be checked.
Note that sometimes the registry setting does not get updated even though you enable IPv6 via the GUI interface. So you can check the setting in the registry by going to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters
In the right pane, right-click on DisabledComponents and select Modify. Make sure the value is set to 0. If it’s set to anything else like FF, IPv6 was turned off.
Connected to Same Network
Though this might sound obvious, you need to make sure the computer is connected to the same network the HomeGroup is on. Only computers on the same subnet will be able to connect to the HomeGroup, so if you have a wireless router, it would only be the computers connected to that router.
You can check if your computers are on the same network by going to the command prompt and typing in IPCONFIG. The first 3 parts of the IP Address should be the same, i.e. 192.168.0.x or 10.0.1.x.
HomeGroup Password
Make sure that the HomeGroup password has not changed. You can check the HomeGroup password on another computer and then use that one to join the HomeGroup.
You can find the HomeGroup password by going to Control Panel and opening HomeGroup. Then click on View or print the HomeGroup password.
If you need to, change the HomeGroup password on the computer you are trying to connect to the HomeGroup.
Firewalls
Make sure any third-party firewalls are disabled like Comodo, etc. Sometimes anti-virus programs also come bundled with firewall software like Norton, McAfee Security and Kaspersky. These program can block the connections and prevent you from connecting to a HomeGroup.
Turn on Network Discovery
Make sure that Network Discovery is enabled on your Windows 7 PC. You can do this by going to Control Panel, then Network and Sharing Center, and clicking on Change advanced sharing settings in the left pane.
Make sure that the Turn on network discovery radio button is selected. It should be on by default, but if someone changed your settings, this could also cause the problem.
Synchronize Clocks
Go to each computer and make sure that all the clocks are showing the correct time. If the clocks are not synchronized, the HomeGroup feature will not work. If your computer is connected to the Internet, it should automatically pick up the correct time.
The only occasion where it would not is if you are in a domain, then the clocks should be synchronized to the domain controller. You may have to check the time server settings if that is not the case.
Windows 7 Services
In order for the HomeGroup networking feature to be working, there are certain Windows services that need to be enabled and running. If you used a program to disable services or manually disabled them, it may be causing the problem.
The services that need to be turned on are listed below:
- DNS Client
- Function Discovery Provider Host
- Function Discovery Resource Publication
- Peer Networking Grouping
- HomeGroup Provider
- HomeGroup Listener
- SSDP Discovery
- UPnP Device Host
You can turn on the services by clicking on Start and typing in “services” and then clicking on Services.
In the Services dialog, double-click on the service and make sure the Startup type is set to Automatic and click Start to turn on the service.
Set Network Location to Home
Another reason why you can’t access your HomeGroup is because it only works for home networks where you trust all the computers. If, for some reason, you chose Work, Public, or Domain, then HomeGroups will not work.
You can check this by going to Network and Sharing center and looking under Network. If it’s not set to Home network, you can change it by clicking on the link and choosing the new network location.
Router Supports IPv6
This is pretty much not an issue anymore, but just for the sake of covering all bases, you need to make sure that your router can support IPv6 protocol. If not, Windows 7 cannot communicate with the other computers using HomeGroup. Any relatively new router will support it, so unless you have a really old router, you should be ok.
If you tried all of this and still can’t connect to a HomeGroup, post a comment and I will see if I can help. Enjoy!
I did have Homegroup working on my two Windows 7 Home Premium laptops, after making some changes in my F-Secure firewall, but in the last day or so the 'joiner' ('Laptop 2') ceased to recognise any Homegroup on the network. It 'sees' Laptop 1 in the Network and all the sharing options on each are correctly set, but only prompts to create a new Homegoup.
I followed your steps above and did find that a number of the above Services on Laptop 2 had not started. Remedied that as above, but no joy – Laptop 2 still cannot identify a Homegroup on the network. I have 'left' the Homegroup on Laptop 1 and created a new one, but that has made no difference. Needless to say, the Windows troubleshooter couldn't find a problem on either computer.
I am wondering if maybe there is a file or registry entry on Laptop 2 associated with the original Homegroup that needs to be deleted or reset manually. I'd appreciate any further thoughts you may have.
I have a desktop and a laptop on the same network(router) and I cannot get homegroup to work. I have noticed that my homegroup passwords are different on each of the computer but have not found a spot to change them to the same. I have made some changes in my norton internet security settings for networks but don't know if they are correct or not. Need help. Thanks
Thank God I came across this.
If only it helped, I have tried everything to get the HomeGroup working in Windows 7.
At my wits end ill tell ya.
I, like everyone else am having trouble connecting my two computers to home network via ethernet cable.
When I go to "hkey local machine ……..parameters, all that is there in the window is "default REG_sz (value not set) No disabled components.
Is something missing?
I'm in the same boat. Tried everythingn above. Some services were not started on one of the machines, but even after starting, no joy. One of my machines is a 32 bit laptop still running the RC version. The other is a 64bit box running RTM. Any troubleshooting tips would be welcome!
Homegroups worked fine for a while, but something has gone wrong recently. The other PCs on my network can no longer see mine listed in the HomeGroup.
I've tried resetting my HomeGroup by removing it and recreating it. The trouble is, the other PCs seem to see that I have a HomeGroup but the password I enter is always "incorrect".
Interestingly, I removed my HomeGroup and yet the other PCs indicate that there is still a HomeGroup present and available to be joined with. Why woulld that be so if there is no such HomeGroup anymore? Perhaps they are referring to "stale information"?
Anyway, one other area where I smell a rat is that I installed Norton Internet Security 2010 a while ago. I can't say for sure whether the HomeGroup issue began exactly at this time, but it does seem to be "around this time".
I've tried all the other things listed on your (very helpful) site, as well as searching through the internet for other suggestions. HomeGroup is a cool feature and worked wonderfully well when all my PCs were all on the Windows 7 RC version and I had no 3rd party internet security.
Make sure there are no updates waiting to install or needing a restart. It may sound silly but after two hours it was my problem.
The problem I am having is that when I try to join the HomeGroup, it says that I need to be on a home network and when I check my network it is a home network. How do I get it to see it as a Home Network?
when I started my HomeGroup it asked me how many connections I wanted to allow. not thinking I put the setting to just 1. How do I change that setting again?
I have configured my computers using your advice. Especially the list of services proved to be very useful. Furthermore, I turned on the password protected sharing in the Advanced Sharing Settings of The Network and Sharing Center.
However, I found out that my router does not support ipv6. I have solved this problem by giving each windows 7 computer a fixed IPv6 address (Network/Network and Sharing Center/Local Area Connection/Properties/Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)). To determine the right ipv6 address I have used the IPv4/6 address conversion at http://ip-lookup.net/tools.php.
From the generated ip addresses you have to choose the so-called IPv4-mapped address, this is an address starting with ::FFFF: , generally ::FFFF:C0A8: when you use home network IP4v adresses like 192.168.xxx.xxx. For subnet prefix length I used 48, for default gateway and preferred dns server I used the IPv6 versions of my router address.
I also edited the firewall settings of the AVG firewall. First I added the home network twice (once for the IPv4 address range and once for the IPv6 address range) as safe networks to the defined networks under (AVG/Tools/Firewall Settings/Profiles/Small Home or Office Network/Defined Networks). Then I added four rules to open up the ports described in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee6171….
This can be done under (AVG/Tools/Firewall Settings/Profiles/Small Home or Office Network/System Services/Manage User System Rules). Restricted the access to the computer by the opened ports in each rule to the safe home networks I had defined before.
After all this, my Homegroup worked!
My homegroup works fine when i leave my firewall tuned off. This is not a major problem as my router firewall protects everything incoming and I control my home network, however, I would like to know how to change my firewall settings to allow me the homegroup to work regardless.
I use F-Secure Internet Security 2010. Homegroup started to work when I set IPv6 filtering to "Normal" in firewall settings.
Thanks Hvitie!!
I have a homegroup setup and working, but when I try and play mp3 files the client computer hangs for a good minute. Windows media player hangs. It ultimately plays but that hanging condition is nasty. When I play the music through a standard network share it plays fine. I want to find out what is causing the WMP hanging condition.
Microsoft Tech Support used this to good effect on one of my computers. Unfortunately, I now have the exact same problem on another of my networked Win7 Pro computers and the the fix didn't work on it. Help!
Homegroup Listener on one of my machines will not start. It shows an error code of -2147467262 (0×80004002). Do you know what might be causing this?
@ Mark Freeman,
try enabling Windows Firewall, or set a 3rd party firewall visible in Security Centre with an exception for IPv6 Homegroup traffic
see link for details
http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/17839-…
Went through all the above still could not get to work in the end did the simple thing of turning wi- fi router off and restarting we now have home net work agian.
Before you start creating a home group make sure all above services are started and most importantly, windows firewall service must be started, doesn’t matter which security software you are using.
I was able to set up my homegroup without a problem when my husband and I got our computers. I recently restored mine however. Now it says that I own teh homegroup that is available, but I can not add myself back on it. My husband tried setting one up on his computer instead and it keeps telling me that the password is incorrect. It doesn't matter if it's his or mine. It won't let me set up a new on either. I have checked all the setting stated above, but cannot get it to work. Its there any suggestions for someone that had restored their computers when they were the one's to set up the homegroup in the first place?
I have a desktop that is connected to a alfa wirless g wifi adapter and its connected to my belkin wirless router. I use the wifi card to access the internet and the router to share the connection with a laptop that part works fine! however I have been trying to set up a homegroup with the 2 computers. now on my desktop the wifi card is set to my home network the wired router conection is set to a unidentified connection and will not let me change this. I believe this to be the reason why my laptop cannot join the homegroup. however ur article says I should be able to change the wired connection …. I have tried everything without any luck! any help would be great !!!!!
I've got a x64 desktop machine on the same network as a x86 laptop. Both recognize that they're on the same Homegroup, and each shows up in the other's Homegroup in Explorer, but it only works one way – the laptop can open the desktop's libraries, but the desktop can't open the laptop's, even though it can see them. When I try to get to them through the Network tab in Explorer, I get "Windows cannot access LAPTOP." Weirdly, it'll work – sometimes – if I restart one or both of the computers after connecting them, but this gets pretty cumbersome for a laptop I take out of the house every day.
Here is a tip for those, who are using F-secure Internet Security 2010. I had to create a new firewall rule according to this guide to be able to use their firewall with homegroup (setting IPv6 filtering to "normal" didn't help alone):
http://www.f-secure.com/kb/15216
Just bought new laptop with Windows 7. Want to connect to my Trend Net wireless router. I have the laptop added as part of my network. I can connect if my security setting/ WEP is disabled. I don't want security setting disabled though. When I try to connect when the security setting is active, I can't connect. I receive the following message: "Windows does not support automatically setting up the initial connection to a network that uses shared-key authentication." How do I connect??
Problem: I'm unable to join my computers to a homegroup. The problem exists in both directions. If either one has a homegroup, the other cannot see it. When I go to network and sharing center, I can see the option: "HomeGroup: Ready to Create" but I do not see an option to join.
what a joke. Windows 7 is not easier to use. It should automatically connect (at the very least) windows 7 computer to another windows 7 computer. How pathetic. Just as with xp and vista, networking is hit and miss, and you have to mess around with all your settings on your control panel for hours, just to be able to read a simple file from one pc to the next. What a waste of time, as usual. windows 7 is no improvement at all.
I've been searching and searching and am officially befuttled. I have managed to stream/share media across both my homegroup and outside the network.
The problem is that only a fraction of my library seems to show up. For example, artists A,B and part of C show up. It doesnt matter if I view/sort by artist, album, etc. Only songs that have an artist starting with A, B (and some C's) show up.
I am sharing the whole library, I have refreshed. I have reshared.
The problem persists on multiple computers. Any ideas?
My scenario: Windows 7 on a wired desktop, Windows 7 on a wireless laptop. If I connect the laptop with a cable, I can join the desktop's home group network "Network" no problem. Share files, printer, everything's cool.
However, the minute I disconnect the Cat5 and put it on wireless connection, the laptop won't see the HomeGroup (it creates its own network "Network 2").
Driving me crazy. (I have checked the IPV6 settings on both, and they're fine.)
BitDefender Total Security 2010 defaults to disabling Home Network. Enable and add computer.
I tried EVERYTHING…. it was the IPV6 settings in my virus software (F-Secure) everything works perfectly now i set it to 'normal'.
I have tried all that i could to get my home group to work and it won't. I am running both the laptop and my PC on Windows 7 professional. The laptop is connected to a Belkin N wireless router and i have the PC connected directly to it. No Dice. Anyone have any idea's???
I am a newbie to networking and I have tried all methods till this works. Didn't know why win7 homegroup troubleshooter never tell. You need to have different computer names for homegroup to detect.
Hi
Well i have a problem that sounds unique to everyone else's. I have 6 machines connected to my "server" homegroup, except one! It can see the homegroup and when asks for the password, it just sits there trying to send it. and then times out?
WTF? it can see the homegroup, it even names it, but the password wont go through to even try and authticate it???
anyone have suggestions?
tx
I bought a new router and had to reconfigure my network. I had homegroup working just fine. Now, on 2 of my machines, IPV6 says "no network access". I tried all of the above and still the same problem. Other people have this issue but there are no solutions. Many people say to just turn off IPv6 but that is not a solution.
Ideas, anyone?
I have a following problem: my PC and laptop (both – Windows 7) are connected to the InterNET through the Barricade router with Wireless support & DHCP enabled. All IPv4 addresses are from the same range ( PC usually is connected with cable and laptop – wireless. When I connect laptop with cable, it joined to home group and can browse / change (according to settings) data on other one. When I disconnecting the cable and using Wireless connection, Home group in unreachable…
Is there any solution for this?
I was cruising along with Homegroup until I downloaded AVGFree onto my new Dell desktop. That totally fouled the works. I spent hours trying to figure out what went wrong when I finally decided to restore the system to the day prior to the AVG download and presto, now I'm up and running again.
For those who have a wired PC + wireless laptop and getting different networks. Have you found a solution?
I have all the items on that you said above, but I cannot turn on the network discovery and file sharing. I try and save, and it goes back off when you open it back up.
I have exactly the same problem, won't save changes on network discovery and file sharing. All services running.
I was having difficulty setting up my HomeGroup with a wired desktop and wireless laptop running through a NetGear N wireless router and the computers preloaded with McAfee. The laptop could see the desktop, but not the other way around. I FINALLY found this post and did everything it said. After I changed all of the settings on both computers, I shut them down and turned the router off. After I restarted the router and booted up the computers, I was finally able see the laptop from my desktop (which was my original problem). I'm sure it was a combination of doing everything on this post and then rebooting everything in the world. Thank you! I have no idea how an average Windows user would be able to accomplish this and that disturbs me, Microsoft. I look forward to going home to my MacBookPro each day.
I went through the entire check list but failed when I got to the 'Services' check. I could not Start the 'Peer Networking Group'. What I got was 'Error Code 1068. The Dependency service group failed to start.'
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks, Sam
have 1 desktop (XP) and 1 laptop (win7). I shared my drives, made sure they are on the same workgroup but still can not see them on my wireless network. Help?
Hi, I have a network with a win7 desktop, win7 laptop, xp laptop and a network hard drive connected to the router. I created a workgroup on the win7laptop and typed in password on the win7 destop. On the desktop, I can see the win7 laptop in the same workgroup but on the laptop, the desktop is not visible. The network hard drive is also not visible on the win7 laptop. The xp laptop can access the hard drive with no problem. I've tried your suggestions above but still can't see the desktop on the win7 laptop.
Thanks
I just did two fresh installs of win7pro. One on a hard wired box, the other was a wireless laptop. I set the homegroup up on the hardwired box, and then joined the laptop to it. Both machine can 'see' the default homegroup and the default libraries, but neither machine can navigate into each others libraries. When an Open is attempted, the cursor just sits there with the wait icon, and then stops. Both machines are in the same class C range and subnet and can communicate the old fashion way (using straight up sharing). I have exhausted myself today trying to find an answer to this and am about to give up. Even adjusting advanced sharing permission does not solve it, nor does dumping, re-creating, and re-joining the homegroup.
Two new, fresh installs…sad face…help?
I'm getting the "Homegroups can only be created on a home network" message, even though both are on the same home network (and the icon shows Home for both). I checked the TCPIP6Parameters on my laptop (Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit) and it didn't have the DisabledComponents keyword at all. I created a String word with that name, and set it to 0 (haven't tried since).
Some factors that may have an impact on this:
1. My other computer is running Windows 7 Professional (network is set to home).
2. Both computers are connected to my network through a Cisco Catalyst 2900XL Switch.
3. The switch is connected to a Cisco 2514 Router, which is connected to my DSL Modem.
4. I have IPv6 tunneled through he.net's tunnelbroker. So I have my own IPv6 network. The router controls the tunneling through the Dialer Protocol.
5. I also have a Windows Home Server on the network.
Network sharing and discovery is turned on for all computers, and I can "see" both of my Windows 7 computers when I click on Networking. I've disabled all of the adapters (Hamachi LogMeIn and Virtualbox/VMWare virtual adapters) on both computers.
For everything in the troubleshooter on the joining computer, it shows "Issue Not Present", yet I get the message on both computers.
Any suggestions? Please don't tell me that it detects the Cisco equipment and thinks I'm on a business network. I switched to this equipment because the cheap Linksys router and even cheaper (crap) Belkin router couldn't handle the simple traffic created when I moved files to/from my WHS box.
Thanks, and have a great weekend:)
Patrick.
I couldn't connect 2 Win7 computers until I severed the network bridge that I enabled for my Xbox. Delete the network bridge, then setup your wireless connection to be shared by right clicking your wireless connection and choosing properties in adapter settings (this will enable the network connection to share your wireless connection with the Xbox without creating a network bridge), then restart your router. Reenter your homegroup password. That fixed my problem.
AVG 9 works. On the menu click on Components/Firewall. Then under "Select firewall profile" choose "Small home or office network". Presto.
My problem is a little bit different. I have three laptops all running windows 7 Ultimate. When I connect them to a homegroup network, they each bring the homegroup password. So I do have three passwords for the homegroup. No computer is visible to the other as homegroup members. I dont know what to do now. but I have checked and followed almost every step which you provided in this article. But it seems it there is no improvement on my laptops. Please help me on this.
Hi
I spent 2 days checking every setting on PC's, firewall checking, clock syncing etc. At my wits end, I had the idea to re-boot my HomeHub (its version 1 so this means turing it off and on). Shouldn't need to as updates dynamically.
Hey presto, all sorted. . .
Regards
Ricky
I have a HP desktop and a HP laptop, I have done everything on here and still can not get it to work. My only concern was that maybe I was not stopping the anti virus firewall correctly and that could be my problem. I am just not sure how to do it. My desktop has Norton 360 and my laptop has Kasperkey
My PC (Windows 7 Ultimate) is not responding when I try and make any changes to Windows Homegroup.
Nothing happens when I click on "View or print the Homegroup password."
If I attempt to change the password I always get the message "Windows cannot set up a Homegroup on this computer."
If I click on "leave the Homegroup," I get the message "Windows couldn't remove your computer from the Homegroup."
I have read a few of the threads when Googling Homegroup problems. I tried the deleting all within the peerNetworking folder, and checked services, but still no joy.
No matter what guide or advice given, I cannot do anything with this PC and Windows Homegroup. It seems I am locked within a Homegroup I am not part of.
Steve
This is exactly my problem – were you ever able to solve this?
I have a simple system with two computers running Windows 7. Both are connected wirelessly through an Ericson hub that also provides my internet. When I try to join the network I've created on the other, I get the message "Homegroups can only be created on a home network" yet the networking and sharing center says that I have a home network. I've tried changing to another kind of network and back again – but to no avail.
Any help would be appreciated.
New instructions from F-Secure about how to configure their firewall for HomeGroup. Works with Vista Workgroup, too:
f-secure.com/en/web/home_global/support/article/kba/15216/s/is.1322/k/homegroup/p/1
I have a Netgear WNDR3700 with a hard wired PC and wirelessly connected laptop. I have been using homegroup for some time now with no problems, as I have Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, but all of a sudden a few days ago the problems started. Now when I try and access a shared folder from the laptop on my PC, it says that the network path is unavailable. I have not changed (knowingly) anything on the network, i.e. hardware or settings.
I have tried a number of fixes including those above, factory resetting the router, removing and setting up HomeGroup again (from both terminals), disabling the KIS firewall in both locations. I have checked all of the IPv6 settings, assigned static IP addresses for the connected devices, re-applied all of the sharing settings for each folder. I kept getting an error message saying the network path was not found, but now I am getting Error Code: 0x800704cf "The network location cannot be reached. For info about network troubleshooting, see Windows help." Any ideas?
Hi – I am having this problem on my two windows 7 computers. I had to reinstall windows on one computer, and since then, this computer hasn't been able to join the homegroup. I left the homegroup on both computers, and neither one is detecting it, but neither one can create a new one – I get the message "Windows cannot set up a homegroup on this computer".
I have tried all the steps above – the homegroup did work before I reinstalled Windows. Thanks.
My homegroup has been working fine between two PCs and a laptop, until this weekend when I got a new router. Now nothing is working. Any help is appreciated!
I have tried everything you suggest above to connect to HG. Both of my computers connect individually and give me their own password, but neither sees the other so I don't get the opportunity to enter the password. I have tried 2 different routers, same problem.
I have three laptops, all with Windows 7 Ultimate. All can connect to the Homegroup as I created on the only desktop that has a printer, but one cannot print. It can see the printer but it won't download the driver or says it cannot find it. Then, it fails to install the printer.
I followed all your suggestions in this article, but the bottom line, no printing.
I have a desktop and two laptops running Windows 7. HomeGroup is enabled and all 3 computers and connect to the desktop and 1 laptop. But the one laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate, while it can access the other laptop and the desktop, they cannot access it's files.
The desktop runs Windows 7 Professional and the other laptop runs Home Premium. How can I fix this?
I bought two new Win7 boxes at the same time. I tried every strategy I could find and that various tech support people could suggest to implement printer sharing through a HomeGroup. I could create HomeGroups on both boxes but neither box could see the other so neither was allowed to join the HomeGroup.
I finally tumbled to the fact that the retailer (or maybe Win7) had given both boxes the same name, "Owner." Two computers with the same name cannot be in a HomeGroup together! This may be obvious to some but it sure wasn't on anybody's troubleshooting checklist.
Hi. My PC (home network) can recognize my laptop and its folders but cannot open them. My laptop on the other hand can get full access and control to folders shared by my PC. I have tried everything here. What's bugging me is that I have a Norton Netbook internet security and I tried turning off the firewall managed by it. Yet, I had no luck. What to do?
Thanks. ^^
I have a laptop and a desktop both connected wirelessly via a Thomson TG782T modem/router. Both run windows 7 ultimate version 6.1.76. I am at a loss trying to get homegroup to work. I have followed all the firewall settings contained in Microsoft's "Homegroup and Firewall Interaction." I have checked every service mentioned in this web site and others. I have checked IPV6 etc. I have tried with windows firewall and AVG free both disabled. I can ping each computer successfully. I have run "ipconfig /all" but can't see any problems.
My current status is:
Home group – both computers can see each other but cannot access any of the shared libraries.
Network – both computers can see each other and can access files. my printer is shared (from my desktop) and works OK.
Can you help me?
Hi, Followed your instructions above, but have a problem with Peer Networking Grouping. l can change it to automatic, but when l try and change it to start, I get error 1068, the dependency service or group failed to start.
Can you please advise?
Many thanks,
Keith
My computers can both see one another. When I set up the homegroup, it says joined and the other computer says ready to job, but when I enter the password, it just keeps searching then says it encountered a problem and the troubleshooter doesn't help any. I don't understand what the problem can be. They BOTH see one another, they just won't hook up!
I tried everything. I have a PC and a laptop, both running windows 7. I'll take the password the PC gives me, go to my laptop, and there is no place to join a homegroup. It just gives me another password. I've disabled the firewall, tried everything (I think) and, still, all I get is a different password from each computer.
Help, please.
Hi. Thanks for the great article which explains a lot. I've got my Homegroup set up, but I don't understand how to set permission folders/libraries. Here's my problem:
* I have a desktop and a laptop which can see each other (fine)
* However, all users can see my libraries by default — not what I want
* I would expect to be able to change permissions on folders to "Share with… A specific user", then state that I just want to share it with my own username (which is the same on both computers)
* However, it only seems to make it available to Desktop/username; it seems to treat Laptop/username as a different user, and there's no option to add my other username in, as far as I can see.
Seems crazy that Windows has made it really easy to share my personal files with the whole world, but not to share it with just myself!
Hello.
I've been trying to network 2 computers via a cross over cable. One has Win 7 Ultimate and the other has Win XP. I am on dial-up, too. I've tried practically every fix I could find online but none work. I can't change it to home work or public. It's saying "unidentified network" and below that it says "work network." I haven't been able to change that to any thing else. I've been trying for about 3 days now. I am about to toss this darn thing out in the burning barrel.
If you can help me step-by-step, that would at least stop me from pulling what grays out that I have left.
My peer Networking Grouping is stopped and will not start. Please help.
Also view or print the homegroup password is grayed out.
Please help me.
Thanks.
I have three computers. One is wireless; two are cat5. The one that is wired connected no problem. The wireless laptop will not connect. It seems to be something with the router. I have a Belkin f6d4230 v1.
Any help would be appreciated. I did not see anything in the router that would block it.
That did not work. My wired desktop Windows 7 can not join a Homegroup, yet I can exchange files with the other computers. Fine. But, I cannot get a printer to work under any circumstances – either local or network. It was working local until I networked. What is odd is that the wireless connected laptop is on network "RexCity" and the desktop is on "Network 2," but they have the same Ipconfig 192.168.1.x.
If I could just uninstalll all the networks and get a local printer to work, that would be a start.
I have the same issue – did you ever fix this? If so what did you do?
Is there an easy way to turn on logging so you can actually get an error message related to whatever's failing?
(I have 3 computers – one running Win 7 64-bit Ultimate, one running Win 7 64-bit Premium – wireless, and one running Win 7 32-bit Ultimate.)
The two 64-bit computers talk fine, the 32-bit computer sees the Homegroup, but won't actually join it.
I just migrated to Win7x64 and I am using ZASS. I have set up Homegroup on two laptops (win7 x64 Home Premium) and one desktop (win7 x64 Professional). Homegroup seems to work with the two laptops; I can access and modify files. On the desktop, I can access the two laptops and modify files. However, I cannot access the desktop from either laptop.
I had 6 computers, (2 desktops and 4 laptops/netbooks) all connected to Homegroup trying to share a printer. It worked for 3 or 4 days. Now nothing will print. I've removed printer, added printer, made sure the host computer that had the printer attached was on and not asleep, everything I could think of. Needed to be able to print so took my desktop back off Homegroup and set up printer to just print directly for now. So frustrating to have had this set up and working fine, made NO changes that I'm aware of, and it just stopped working. Gee…
FYI in comment earlier: I left out the fact that ALL 6 computers are running Windows 7.
I tried all of the above, none of it worked.
But I found a SOLUTION:
I have a Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Router WNDR3400
Laptop was on the 2.4GHz network
Desktop on ethernet
When I switched the laptop to connect through the 5GHz connection, the laptop was finally able to connect to the homegroup.
I'm trying to get Homegroups to work… I do not get the "Join" button on the second computer.
I've disabled my firewall on both computers and nothing. Looking at the network map, both computers are there.
I'm trying to connect through my 2WIRE router from AT&T, is that the problem? I have a PC connected with Ethernet and a laptop connected through WIFI. They can see each other on the network map, but I can't get the join homegroup button to show up on laptop.
its saying cant create homegroup because ipv6 is not enabled but ive checked and it is
oh please do help me! you can private email me if you would like. i have searched online for over week and still nothing.. i have windows7 home premium. I have never paid attention till lately when i tried to make my own network, i do not get the option to select home/work/public/domain. my computer just says unidentified network and defaults to public. I even went out and bought a new router to see if it would change and it didn't. i have done everything your post here says and nothing. i have posted on several public webpages and no one has been able to help. PLEASE PLEASE hit me up
I can confirm that rebooting the router is very, very good advice!!!
When I open the network and sharing center, the option for me to view or print my homegroup password is not available. It is gray and does not allow me to select it. How do I get my password now?
I have a desk top and a lap top both are running windows 7. Both are less than a year old. I have tried everything on your webpage. I can start a workgroup on both but neither can recognize the other workgroup. What am I overlooking?
I've gone through all these steps very carefully.
5 computers work great on the homegroup.
One computer can see the libraries, but cannot open them.
Also strangely, I cannot change the share settings from the homegroup console on this computer. I can do the right click thing and other computers can see my files, but still, I cannot connect with other computers.
I have a desktop and netbook, both with Windows7. I have set up a homegroup on my desktop but cannot join my netbook. The "join now" button is greyed out and does not work. I have checked all the settings, etc, per your article. Any suggestions?
The statement that Kaspersky can block homegroup access is correct. However, it does not point out how to correct it. I am using KIS 2011. Open the main screen. Click on Online Security. In the lower right corner click on Network Monitor. In the popup window click on Rule Settings – all network rules. In the new popup window click on Networks. In my window a line for Internet and a line for my internal network are displayed. Right-click on the internal network. I found that either local network or trusted network are acceptable. I use trusted network. OK and save your way back out. Now you should be able to se other machines in the homegroup.
I have followed everything on your list except when I go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpip6Parameters, there is no disabled components. I even searched for it.
For what it’s worth, these are some of the error messages I’ve been getting:
file and print sharing resource (DELL-PC) is online but isn’t responding to connection attempts.
The remote computer isn’t responding to connections on port 445, possibly due to firewall or security policy settings, or because it might be temporarily unavailable. Windows couldn’t find any problems with the firewall on your computer.
Your library couldn’t be shared
Could not find the path…
This is something I’ve gone at least six times before, and this is the first time I’ve had any issues.
Any other ideas suggestions?
Thanks for the article!
Solution found. I fixed this problem by replacing my Linksys WiFi network extenders with Netgear Powerline network extenders. It was a flaky network issue.
Hey there, great post, but I am still having issues and I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm pretty resourceful myself but every once in a while I need to reach out and get a helping hand. I have 4 computers and luckily only one of them is experiencing issues. What's happening is that the 3 computers with no issues can see my 1 computer just fine as well as each other, but the one computer can not see any other HomeGroups, and when I go into HomeGroup it says "This computer can't connect to a homegroup." then it says, "HomeGroup is not ready yet. Please try again in a few minutes. If this message continues to appear, click the link to start the HomeGroup troubleshooter." I tried doing the Troubleshooting but just can't seem to figure out what is going on. Any advice?
Went through the list and still get a cannot connect to homegroup message. I have a desktop with a brand new windows 7 pro install and a laptop running windows 7 ultimate. Router is a fairly new Belkin. I am using a static ip on the desktop and the laptop. I can ping in either direction. Any ideas?
Perhaps I should mention that I have not used the key to register it yet as I wanted to make sure that it worked. I’m not aware that it should affect the features though.
sir please help, i have a new internet cafe, all the pc's are windows 7 ulitmate, all of them are in the same home group and i can share files but when the pc's are restarted the network will reset all to public network,and it's very tiring to set up all the pc to home network again. please help sir.
All 3 IP addresses should be the same, but you do not explain what to do if they are not. Please explain.
3 computers all running windows 7. Two would join the homegroup. The third was on the homegroup, but then decided to be stupid.
I tried reviewing all the different settings. Finally, I just power cycled the router, and then everything worked fine.
I had a pc on my network that hosted the homegroup but it died and I got rid of it. Now all the machines on my system say that the homegroup is hosted by that computer. How can I kill all references to that machine and create a new homegroup?
Have all your existing computers 'Leave the Homegroup' and then start a new Homegroup. All these options are found in the HomeGroup settings area.
Thanks for this posting and to hvitie!. What solved the problem for me was this great advice from hvitie as I also use F-Secure Internet Security (2011):
hvitie Said,
January 26th, 2010 @12:09 pm
I use F-Secure Internet Security 2010. Homegroup started to work when I set IPv6 filtering to “Normal” in firewall settings.
I think I have tried these but I still can't get Homegroup to work. I am trying to connect wired and wireless. When both are wired it works with no problem but once I go wireless my computer can't find the homegroup. Not sure what's wrong. IPv6 has no internet connection on both computers though. I just bought my router a few months ago so it should support it. Not sure what's wrong.
Hi,
I have a diffarent problem. I use usb wimax dongle for connecting to internet on desktop which is running windows 7 ultimate. I have a Belkin 54G router and now I use that as an access poin and share the usb wimax to my HP laptot running windows 7 ultimate also and with Nokia N900 running Maemo 5 (Linux). Everything is going fine as all of my devices are getting internet connection flawlessly. Now I need to transfer files between desktop and laptop and I created Homegroup on desktop. My laptop can see Homegroup and gave me option to join but when I try to join, it says "Windows cannot create Homegroup on this computer" after giving password for homegroup. It would be very helfull if you could give me a clear step by step procedure. Thanks.
Thank you so much for this article!
By my own fault the homegroup was not working. I had to reduce some compontents out of the normal Win 7 installation package by using vLite. Stupidly i also removed the Peer to Peer component. Hence i didn't have the required P2P service available. Thanks to this, i figured out what the problem is. Well done!
I have two desktops, one running 7 Ultimate and one running 7 Professional. The one that created the homegroup (the one with Pro), can't see the 7 Ultimate one, but the 7 Ultimate one can see the 7 Professional one. All my settings are set right, I went through your suggestions one by one, and I can't seem to get the one machine to see the other. I'm doing SOMETHING right because one of them works!
Any idears?
Thanks!
I have 3 w7 cpu's on a wireless network. 2 work just fine through the "homegroup". The 3rd can open files on the other 2 but the other 2 can't open files on the third even though the files are visible. When trying to open these files through "homegroup", nothing happens, but when trying to open through the "workgroup", a user/password are requested and no user/password combination works. Can someone please help?
All was working well through "homegroup" about 2 weeks ago and no changes were made since then—it just won't work now and I have tried everything above. The first 2 cpus are still working well.
Ensure that your Computers' names are not the same. If so, change the name of one of them; then create a new homegroup in one of the devices from the beginning. To do right click on Computer icon, Properties, Advanced system settings, Computer name, Change; then restart the device.
ive already connected my pc to another pc's thats run win7 and share files and printer over them ..but when i restart one of them …homegroup is disapear and i have to create a homegroup again ..but if all pc's in sleep mode ..it will be okay ??? how can i fix it ?
Thanks a ton – enabling several services that were stopped did the trick, this gotcha was not mentioned on several other sites but it totally did the trick for me!
When i try to access files from my desktop to the laptop, or vice versa in homegroup, I get this message:"windows cannot access laptopc (from desktop). You do not have permission to access laptopc. Contact network administrator to request access. Both computers can get online.When I first installed Win7 last year, the homegroup sharing worked fine.Thanks
Hi – This is the same issue I am having – the response would help me a lot thanks
My homegroup is perfectly working but it stops working for a minute or two after restart it again works what may be the reason
Thank you! Changing any network related service to automatic fixed the problem. I could see the other computer but not open any of the documents, music, etc. You rock!
That one suggestion of changing the registry to enable to IPv6 fixed my problem after hours of trying to find out what has been blocking my traffic for weeks. Kudos to you.
I have 4 PCs running Windows 7, one under a single license, three under a mutliuser license. One under the three licesnse is hardwired to a router, the other 3 are wireless. I was able to get three working (those under the same license) on the homegroup but not the fourth. I did everyting the article mentioned and made some corrections (some services were turned off), but still can't figure otu the error. Any help is appreciated.
Asseem,
I am sure since it’s so long you may have abandoned this topic. I hope not. I do not have the following in my regestry In the right pane, DisabledComponents. What I do have is: (Default), Dhcpv6DUID, and EnabeICSIPv6. None of these have anything like you suggest when I select MODIFY. However, the latter does have the #1 in the Value data field of Edit DWORD Value. Should that be changed to 0?
I’m one of the ‘simply doens’t work’ group of users. I have no problems creating and seeing all my computers in the WorkGroup. However, whenever I try to open the library folders on any of the computers to view the available files therein, I just get a ‘beep’ in response, and the folders won’t open. No error messages are generated. Again, I have no difficulties creating or seeing the members of the HomeGroup, I just can’t get access to any files. I’ve tried various suggestions on the net, to no avail. Crazy! The two computers are brand new Windows 7 HP Laptops, set up on a DLink wireless router, through the router configured as an ‘Access Point.’
I'm running Windowns 7 Ultimate 64 bit on the PC I created the homegroup on. I just bought a new laptop running Windows 7 Home 64 bit. When I click on the homegroup option all it says is "create a homegroup". There's no "join now" or anything. I had to change some of the services to "on" and automatic and then I restarted my computer. Still nothing. I've done everything this guide recommended and nothing. On my PC the homegroup is fine so I can't figure out what the problem is.Also I'm not getting any messages at all
all service started, different names on each computer, tried both wired & wireless,but when I try to join the homegroup on the laptop, I type the password and after about 5-10 minutes get the following error:
HomeGroup – Windows cannot start a homegroup on this computer.
After trying above said method also … It dint work….. Problem is with the Antivirus (In my case was using the Nod32 which used to block connectivity for Homegroup) On uninstalling the antivirus it gave a option to join the network before I could restart after uninstalling !! Not an issue with the Windows7 home group. =)
After Uninstalling… Home group was available to JOIN =)
mine is strange I am in the same subnet, I am in the same workgroup, using dhcp. I can see the other computer I can actually access it now but I can not join the homegroup it just times out. Through different configurations of trying I am back now to the exclamation saying no internet access even though I am sending it from this. I have during times had that go away but through so much troubleshooting it keeps coming back. I am not new to networking, I was an Network administrator for years I retired before Win 7 though
after all this I still get the error that windows cannot set up a homegroup on this computer, 2 win 7, 1 win xp x64 that I am not going to add to the home group, both win 7 see ea other but I still get the message. any and all help is appreciated Thanks
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpip6Parameters
In the right pane, right-click on DisabledComponents and select Modify. Make sure the value is set to 0. If it’s set to anything else like FF, IPv6 was turned off.
Could not find the value….Where could it be?
I changed the name of user but it did not change in the homegroup. How do I change it in homegroup?
I have tried everything you suggest above to connect to HG. Both of my computers connect individually and give me their own password, but neither sees the other so I don’t get the opportunity to enter the password. I have a lan connected pc and laptop via router…
i have a question about this setting up home-group. i have 2 computer both win7 now the new computer can see the old one but i can’t get it to work on the old one. the old computer is using htc tethering to push internet thru Belkin router thru a bridged network on the old computer. my error say im not on a home network. is it possible that using a tether line and bridging, windows read it as a non-home network
I just bought an Acer laptop and I am trying to connect the homegroup. My desktop recognizes the laptop, but the laptop doesn’t recognize the homegroup on the desktop. I have tried all of your suggestions. My router is a new ASUS 2.4/5.0 GHz router. Both computers are running Windows 7 64-bit. Kaspersky Internet Security firewall is set to Local Network on both machines.
Hey, my computer doesn’t have that registry key “DisabledComponents” in that Directory, could that be a problem?
Even with all the troubleshooting, I am still unable to access a homegroup of my daughters. A friend has been helping me, but still we are unable to access the homegroup. THis is the error I get:
HOMEGROUP-
Windows cannot setup a Homegroup on this computer.
My desktop recognizes my homegroup laptop, but my laptop does not recognize my desktop. I have gone through all the troubleshooting procedures, but to no avail. When check the boxes to allow library sharing on the desktop computer and save, the next time I check it out, the boxes are no longer checked. I feel this is where the problem is, but need some help to fix it.
I had Windows 7 on five computers and more or less had Homegroup working throughout. Then I tried running Windows Home Server 2011, on one computer, reinstalled Homegroup on all computers, but couldn’t get Homegroup to work very well. I’ve reinstalled Windows 7 and can’t get it to work at all, except on one drive on one computer. Thanks for any help.
Hello, Thank you these tips helped solve the problem. I was able to get two new computers, one a laptop and the another pc added to the homegroup on the older PC we had already set up with a Homegroup. However, this old computer won’t change it’s settings in the homegroup page, where you can check documents, music, printer, etc. Only the printer is checked and when I check them all and save changes it doesn’t save the changes. Any resolve for this?
Thanks
did everything right. it still says password is incorrect. damn u windows 7!!!!
Simple simple point missed from this list which fixed it for me…make sure all your computers have different names, doh.
i made a home group in one computer and tried to search for it in another, but it doesnt find it. the computer says that there is no homegroup connected in my network whereas i just mad a homegroup with my other pc. i have done everyting aabove…….still the box shows ‘creat home group where it should say ‘join group’…….what should i do??
Thank God, somebidy finally knew what to do.
Fixed Fixed Fixed.
I truly believe there is no fix. Ran every one of the ‘tests’ and both my husband’s laptop and mine are in synch. we are wireless networked and had this up and running approx a year ago. and then nothing!
Hi,i’m trying to make HomeGroup but at my registry this adress is incomplete
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters
i don’t have the Services folder !
Hello,
I have 2 computers with Win7 HP x64 and a TP-Link router.
Main computer – that has files that need to be accessed – is connected directly (wired) to the router, while the other one is connected via a wireless adapter.
I created a Homegroup, setup the password, both PCs are in the same network (DHCP, 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.101).
I shared the libraries on the source computer (Music, Movies, Pictures, etc.), but when I try to open them on the destination computer they are not opening (double-click or right-click and open) – I can see them but not the content.
I tried to access the shared folders directly (Start, \\192.168.1.100) but it gives me the message that “Windows cannot access \\192.168.1.100\Music…”, “You don’t have permissions…”.
If I try from the destination to the source, I have the same problem.
Please help!