Small business network

KarlLabrada said:

I'm hoping for quick help here!
I'm trying to get a small business network set up, so that all computers can read/write to and from each other.

there are 05 computers on the network,
01, 02 are running Win7 Pro
03, 04, 05 are running Win7 Home Premium.

My problem is this. All computers can see each other on the network, but joining them in the same homegroup isn't working.
not all the computers can see the homegroup. Currently I have 01, 02 and 03 all joined on the homegroup, but 04 cant seem to join the group. It wants to create a new homegroup. I haven't tried joining 05 yet (this time around).

Even the computers that are on teh same homegroup dont recognise that they are all on the homegroup. 01 currently thinks its alone in the homegroup, 02 thinks that 01 is on the homegroup with it, and 03 thinks its alone with 01 on the group.

I've tried making all computers leave the group, and starting over a couple of times, with more or less the same result: all of the computers show up under Network, but they are never all in the same homegroup, and the ones that are show only a selection of the others that are in it.

I know this sounds really confusing, and it is. Hopefully someone can follow along to this point to help me!

I've tried the network and homegroup trouble shooting, but it doesn't seem to help anything.

I should also say that I'm in Australia, and its currently 01:43am on Monday, and I was hoping to have this all working by 9:00 when people are going to come in and need to use it. But I don't hold much hope for that at this point. I've been building, installing Windows and other programs since Saturday morning, and might not be thinking clearly at the moment.

Any help at all would really be appreciated!

Its been a while since I configured my five systems, but let me see if I can help.

First, I didn't set them in a Homegroup, I set them as in a Workgroup. (Homegroups need IPv6, and it is still a bit dicy in Windows 7.)

I set them all in the same Workgroup by going to Control Panel (set to view small icons) System -> Advanced System Settings -> System Name. There change the Workgroup name to be the same for all computers.

In Network and Sharing -> Advanced Sharing Options click the top option for all but the bottom two. Turn off Password Protected Sharing and under Homegroup Connections set "Use User Accounts and Passwords to connect to other computers."

On the systems, set up the shared folders and permissions you need.

Give it a shot, and let us know if that helps.

KarlLabrada said:

Worked a treat! Thanks for the help.

For those following im my footsteps with this, I recomend reading the above instructions and GETTING SOME SLEEP before attempting networking! lol

Thanks again Schaft

Karl -

Glad it all worked out for you - I was concerned that you were burning the candle at both ends and not being able to see the light, as it were. :)

I'm sure you would have come to the same conclusion with a little more sleep.