Can't join Homegroup

Make sure all the clocks on the PC's are synchronized. This worked for me. I was getting "Incorrect Password" when trying to join a Homegroup. Believe it or not, I found this fix in the Homegroup troubleshooter.

megreen831 said:

I've seen that others are having problems similar to mine. This brings a certain peace to my life.

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. If a homegroup exists on the computer, I see "joined".

Current Configuration:
PC (home grown AMD Athlon)
Laptop (Dell Latitude E5500).

Users:
administrator account on both computers, same password
user account on both computers, same password

Network Configuration: Verizon FIOS Router/WAP combo. Laptop is using cable to connect. Wireless is currently turned off on laptop.
Both computers are in the same "workgroup". Both computers are set to "Home network".

Symptoms:
1. Unable to see homegroup on network in order to join it.

2: in network status, in the map at the top of the screen, on the PC it is called "Network" and on the laptop it is the same name as my SSID.

3: from time to time, as I'm troubleshooting, I observe that the link between my network icon and the internet icon, within the status map, shows a red X, and "connections" will only show "local", and yet I'm still able to surf the internet.

Troubleshooting steps taken:
1. chose "leave the homegroup" on the PC and create it on Laptop. fail.
2. performed the old and faithful "share" and was able to share an entire disk (e:) from the PC and see it, and manipulate it from the laptop. (ping also works, but that's obvious now). Shared a folder on the Laptop and was able to access it from PC. PCs show up in "computer / network" on both computers, and shares are visible there also.
3. On another forum post came a suggestion to disable IPv6.
- Went to properties for the LAN connection on both computers and unchecked "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6).
- restarted both PCs. (unnecessary, I know now)
- tried to create homegroup and received error: "a homegroup can only be created on a home network". Repeated this, and the result on both machines.
- checked IPv6 box back on in connection settings.
- repeated steps again and created homegroups with same being that I cannot join the newly created from from other other computer.

I've tried to provide a comprehensive set of the experience.

Your help is appreciated!

I have a very similar problem. I upgraded a second computer to Windows 7 to create a Homegroup and simplify sharing. Original Win 7 machine has Homegroup. Attempts to join second machine gives message "IPv6 needs to be enabled". IPv6 is enabled on both machines. Network topology includes NIC cards, Motorola router, D-Link switch, all IPv6 capable. But, I keep getting a message to enable IPv6. ????

I also had the same issues (PC and laptop sees eachother on network but won't see either homegroup) and went through all the same troubleshooting that everyone else has. I found out that the problem was due to both PC and laptop having the same computer name (in hindsight it made sense and was kicking my own butt for it). As soon as I changed the laptop name and restarted it, it got the option to join. Hope it helps (and hope I'm not the only one making such a simple mistake >.>)

I had this problem again 2 weeks ago when I reinstalled Windows on 2 of my computer. But my issue is with the DIR-601 Firmware. When plugging my old DIR-524 I have no issue and this was my solution.

Fortunately, DD-WRT just released a new firmware that is compatible with the DIR-601. Did the upgrade yesterday, I should not have any issue anymore ! Alleluia !

Hi Wynlorn

No, you are not the only one making this error, had exactly the same issue. I consider myself well experienced with PC's so just goes to show how you can easily fall for something so basic!
Just adding a procedure below for anyone unsure of how to check and solve the problem of having the same computer names:
To do a check on this click on Start and Right-click on 'My Computer' and click 'Properties'. This will bring up the 'View Basic Information about your computer' dialogue box. You will see the Computer name under 'Computer name, domain, and Workgroup settings'. Take a note of the Computer name and then do the same procedure on the other PC's on the desired HomeGroup. If they happen to have the same name then this is your problem - or certainly one of them! To solve this problem just change the name on one of the PC's. This can be done quite easily by clicking the 'Change Settings' option to the right of the 'Computer name' in the 'View Basic Information about your computer' dialogue box. Clicking on this option will bring up the 'System Properties' . To rename the computer click 'Change' and then type in a new name for the PC or Laptop and then click 'OK'.
You will need to 'Re-boot' for the changes to take effect. Once this is done you should be able to add this PC to the HomeGroup as you will have the option of 'Join' in 'Control Panel/Network and Sharing Centre/Choose HomeGroup and sharing options'.
Hope this helps some of you.

Just Make sure that the date and time for all PC connected to the network are the same.

Solution found. I fixed this problem by replacing my Linksys WiFi network extenders with Netgear Powerline network extenders. It was a flaky network issue.

Solution found. I fixed this problem by replacing my Linksys WiFi network extenders with Netgear Powerline network extenders. It was a flaky network issue.

Make sure that none of the PC's you are trying to add to homegroup have the same name! This solved my issue of being unable to connect them!