Can't join Homegroup

I too have been fighting the HomeGroup battle. I finally contacted Netgear and found out that my Netgear WNR3500 doe NOT support IPv6, therefore HomeGroup will never work. I suggest any of you guys fighting this problem find out if your router will forward IPv6 packets.

This is the solution!!!! Thanks Shawn!!

shawn10 said:

Hey everyone! I was having the same problem but I found a solution. Apparently, not sure why, but Windows did not change the settings in the registry after enabling IPv6. I found a solution over here.

For anyone else having this problem:


1. Click Start. Search for run and press enter. In the field, type regedit and press OK.

2. In the registry, navigate to the following key.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Services
\Tcpip6
\Parameters

3. In the right pane, right-click on “DisabledComponents” and select modify. In the value data field, type “0″ (without quotations) and press OK. If the value was set to ``FF``, it was turned off.
4. Reboot your computer and it should work. It did for me.

DISABLE FIREWALLS!!! Firewalls will block other computers from attempting to connect. Try disabling your Anti-virus software FIREWALL only. EX: Norton, McAfee etc. Worked for me! Good luck.

I have a Net Gear WNR 3500 router also and have homegroup up and working. It is not the router's problem. My problem early on was with the firewalls. I had to delete McAfee which left only Microsoft. After setting up the homegroup, I re-installed McAfee and all is well in network land.
Thanks,
Mike

The problem I'm having is that I can access the "Home Group" file sharing folder in the Control Panel, but no where does it give me the option to create or join the "Home Group".

I'm trying to network an HP Pavilion desktop connected to my router via patch cable to an HP laptop and having the same problems on both ends.

If anyone is using AVG free anti-virus that will be causing the problem. It makes homegroup very inconsistent and it would be trying homegroup with it uninstalled.

Hope this helps.

gyork said:

The problem I'm having is that I can access the "Home Group" file sharing folder in the Control Panel, but no where does it give me the option to create or join the "Home Group".

I'm trying to network an HP Pavilion desktop connected to my router via patch cable to an HP laptop and having the same problems on both ends.

I don't have AVG or a third party firewall; is there a solution out there for the problem I'm experiencing?

gyork said:

gyork said:

The problem I'm having is that I can access the "Home Group" file sharing folder in the Control Panel, but no where does it give me the option to create or join the "Home Group".

I'm trying to network an HP Pavilion desktop connected to my router via patch cable to an HP laptop and having the same problems on both ends.

I don't have AVG or a third party firewall; is there a solution out there for the problem I'm experiencing?

You can only create a Homegroup with Windows 7 Home Premium or above. I'm not sure what you mean by patch cable? You should be using a standard eithernet cable to the router.

You might want to go down this Homegroup check list and make sure everything is correct.
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/wi...-to-homegroup/

Well, I also had the same problem but now my problem is solved! I have a desktop and laptop. When I create a homegroup on one computer, the other computer has no "ready to join" button since no homegroup is detected.

After trying various ways mentioned in this thread and some others, I still didn't solve the problem. Then I noticed the computer name on my desktop and laptop are the same. So I just tried to change the computer name on my laptop so that the two computers have different names, and guess what? It just detected the homegroup immediately. So now I can join the homegroup.

How I did to change computer name (Win 7):

1. Go to Control Panel\System and Security\System
2. In Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click on "Change settings" you'll get system properties window.
3. Under the "Computer name" tag, click on "change" button, you'll be able to change your computer name.

Hope this will work for you!