No other homegroup computers are... [Theory]

Hi all!

I'm trying to make the most out of the Windows 7 features concerning networking and resource management and I'm curious as to if anyone else can verify the behaviour of the Homegroup accessibility issues I'm having, namely;

The message "No other homegroup computers are currently available" may show up if you have not logged in to any other computers within the homegroup.

The important part here; logged in. Because my boxes are powered on, I've made sure of that. But they're not necessarily logged in with an account yet and this seem to affect discovery of computers within a homegroup.

Perhaps this is common knowledge because I did search for this issue and didn't find an answer but I'd like to get some kind of second opinion from you others who are getting on with Windows 7.

Thank you in advance!

If you keep getting that error message than try this.

Clear some files from here and restart and see if the issue persits..
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\PeerNetworking

If you have an XP machine in the Homegroup then things probably won't work correctly.
If you are having problem sharing with the XP machine in a work group this fix might help.

To resolve this issue, set the value of the restrictanonymous registry entry to 0. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then double-click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. On the right side, double-click restrictanonymous.
4. Make sure that the value in the Value data box is set to 0, and then click OK.
5. Close Registry Editor.
6. Restart the computer.

Ok, thanks for filling me in. I'm doing tests on different levels and while I do have an XP machine on my network, these tests I've done involve only Windows 7 computers. I'll try and clean the directory you suggested, on all my computers and see how it turns out.

chev65 said:

If you keep getting that error message than try this.

Clear some files from here and restart and see if the issue persits..
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\PeerNetworking

If you have an XP machine in the Homegroup then things probably won't work correctly.
If you are having problem sharing with the XP machine in a work group this fix might help.

To resolve this issue, set the value of the restrictanonymous registry entry to 0. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then double-click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. On the right side, double-click restrictanonymous.
4. Make sure that the value in the Value data box is set to 0, and then click OK.
5. Close Registry Editor.
6. Restart the computer.

I do have the value "restrictanonymous" set to 0 already but another one "restrictanonymoussam" set to 1. Does it matter or is this something that only involves other machines/set ups?

Until you remove the XP machine from the Homegroup then sharing with Homegroups probably won't work right for you. If you are running a mixed OP system network then you need to use the Workgroup networking option and set it up like in this tutorial.

Sharing files and printers with different versions of Windows - Help & How-to - Microsoft Windows

Networking home computers running different versions of Windows

Also if none of the Homegroup machines are signed in then you will get that message also. I'm not too sure on the registry setting aspect of your question, that is just a fix for the problem you described.

I experience the same. If no one is logged in, then the PC is not visible in the homegroup.

And I don't have XP machines in it. How the **** could one have XP machines in a homegroup anyways?