Homegroup and VMWare Fusion Connection

I currently have an iMac on which VMWare Fusion is installed with Windows 7 and a Dell Inspiron laptop with the same (7 HP). Firewalls were turned off and same passwords were set in an attempt to create a Homegroup. The laptop is connected to the network through a Linksys router. The iMac is on an ethernet connection using DHCP.

Neither computer sees the other and I am unable to access the page which allows for "joining a homegroup" on either device. Only the page which asks which files can be shared appears on each.

Can a homegroup be established between the virtual windows and a Dell laptop and if so, how is it done? Not a techie and well past 60 so bear with me.....

Probably not possible to do that, Homegroups was made to work with Windows 7 machines only so I don't think the iMac will be able to join the Homegroup.

I have encountered the same problem. I just changed the network setting of the virtual Win7 machine to physical connection instead of NAT sharing. The homegroup was recognized instantly with a prompt to join.

Just one password is needed to establish the homegroup, and the virtual machine just joins it. That's all.