Windows 7: Windows cannot set up a homegroup

Hi - I have two computers with Windows 7 Home Premium, one 32 and one 64 bit. I had to reinstall windows on the 32 bit computer, and since then the computers can't see each other on the homegroup.

I left the homegroup on both computers, and have gone through every troubleshooting step I could find, and I still get this error every time I try to set up the homegroup (neither computer sees that there is one anymore, but neither one can create one).

The error happens when I go to create a homegroup - Windows says there is currently no homegroup on the network. I click Create a homegroup, check the options for what I want to share, and when I click next I get an error that says "Windows cannot set up a homegroup on this computer."

The steps I have taken:
- removed both computers from the homegroup
- run the network and homegroup troubleshooters
- enabled all recommended services (and checked to make sure they were starting)
- verified that IPV6 is enabled, and not disabled in the registry
- deleted the data in the Peer Networking folder in windows\serviceprofiles\localservice\appdata\roaming\

I still keep getting the same error.

This can be caused from many things including your A/V software. Try this Homegroup trouble shooting list.

Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide for Windows 7 HomeGroup Connection Issues

Hi - I have already been through all the steps on that page (and posted a message to the blogger), which incidentally doesn't mention anything about anti virus software. However, I disabled my antivirus software, rebooted and tried again and still get the same error message.

IMO A/V's softwares cause more problems with Homegroups than just about anything else. The sad part is that often times disabling the A/V will not fix the problem, they sometimes need to be uninstalled completely before Homegroups will work.

I guess my main point is that homegroups were working fine until I had to reinstall Windows 7 on the 32 bit computer - I have the same A/V software as before with the same settings.

Completely uninstalled anti virus on one computer and was able to set up the homegroup, after rebooting both computers the second one was able to join the homegroup - I doubted it but you were right. Thank you!

No problem at all katieatl, the biggest problem with this fix is getting the one posting to believe me.

I should have mentioned that you first need to uninstall the A/V software, then set up the Homegroup then reinstall the A/V which as you found out usually works.

You are correct. By disabling my a/v, and even disabling its autostart was not good enough. I had to uninstall the a/v on all computers before homegroup would connect and actually work. Then could easily be installed after. Another wierd thing i noticed was that no existing folders would work shared, i had to create a new folder to share amongst the homegroup. Now i can homegroup diff windows 7 pc's reguardless of 32 or 64 bit versions. Since i make music and so many mfg's and ms are nazis anymore with stereo mix recording due to copyright infringement, the only way to get decent low budget recordings is to have 2 pc's running. 1 as a main, and 1 to record. Now i can easily wavelab record with one crappy pc and have it instantly save to the main workhorse pc shared folder to quickly edit from.