Can't connect win7 to workgroup

hi everyone, I created a workgroup at home, but am a little stuck trying to connect win7 to it. So far I have my XP as the main PC which I created the workgroup on and my vista is connected to it via my workgroup name, now I'm trying to connect win7 to the workgroup, but the only option I can find is Homegroup and when I create a Homegroup on win7, I cant see my other PC's... I'm still new to this workgroup thingy, so please patients is needed. I need to know how to connect win7 to the workgroup, and would appreciate any help...
thanks in advance
husskii

Welcome to the Seven Forums
You really need to give us a little more info....which build of Windows 7?

Have you set the workgroup name to be the same as your workgroup?
Have you set advanced sharing in the network and sharing centre?

You can check your workgroup name in control Panel > System.

Turn on sharing and depending on your build you should be able to see the other PC's. I found that 7057 had a lot of network problems...7068 was better and 7077 is a dream.
Hope this helps....if not come back with more info and someone here will have the answers...

Hi M8, I am using win7 RC1 7057 and my workgroup name is the same. And everything in advance and sharing, is turned on. I can also ping to and from the other pc and I can see win7 from XP, but not the other way around. I should also add that even though I can see win7 from XP, I can't access the folder. Is it fixable or do I have to upgrade again..
thanks

husskii said:

Hi M8, I am using win7 RC1 7057 and my workgroup name is the same. And everything in advance and sharing, is turned on. I can also ping to and from the other pc and I can see win7 from XP, but not the other way around. I should also add that even though I can see win7 from XP, I can't access the folder. Is it fixable or do I have to upgrade again..
thanks

Click to expand...

On build 7057 XP can not access shares on windows 7 C: drive, and windows 7 can not see XP in the network list. You can access XP by typing the IP or UNC path in windows explorer ie: \\computer name\share name. My advice is don't bother with build 7057 it is more of a hassle than to install a build that works better with XP.

I am with YupYup on this one...7057 was a pain for network shares etc. Try build 7077....I found it to be the best so far in terms of speed, network etc.

Bloody MS there goes another 3Gigs...:mad2:
I found the 7077 release that TW7S uploaded to IPT, so will get that copy....
And one quick question pls! I have vista & win7 in dual boot on my notebook. now when I'm logged into vista and I check the securitry on a folder, I find that 1user is unknown with a bunch of numbers on the unknown username and also the same when I load up win7, I check in the security on one of its folders and I find 1user unknown with a bunch of numbers on the end of uername.. Is that because of the network prob in win7 7057.

thanks

I am having problems with xp to 7 as well

How do I know what build I have?

Best networking in Win7 is when you use a Work Network. HOMEGROUP only plays well with other win7 computers. Make sure they all are on the same workgroup.

Make sure each computer has a unique name ! No 2 computers can have the same name !!!!!! In Network & sharing Center follow my 2 pics of options to check


" Doc "

7up said:

I am having problems with xp to 7 as well

How do I know what build I have?

Click to expand...

7up, search "System Information" in the Start menu search field.

Both 7up and husskii, let us know if updating to a newer Win7 Build does the trick for you! Good luck

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

mine is version 6.1 build 7600 7 Professional

In my workgroup I have one computer listed that is not there anymore. Is there a way to remove its name from the workgroup

I also have build 7600 for Win7, how can I set up the work group so that I can access the printer that is hooked up to my XP comp from my Win7 laptop?

Hi Pyromasta, welcome to SevenForums

Have you followed the instructions here yet? Networking home computers running different versions of Windows

Cheers,

Walker
Windows Outreach Team

Thanks very much, it's working fine now.

Windows 7 can't see local XP or Linux machines - another solution

Hi all -

I struggled with this one for two full days. Thanks to all for all the suggestions, and I tried each and everyone of them systematically... to no avail. Here's my home network:
- Linux box as the internet gateway and firewall (also a place to store some archived files), with Samba installed and a couple of directories enabled for Windows browsing
- A second Linux box on the internal network, mainly for data storage
- A laptop with XP SP3 (32-bit), on the internal network
- A workstation with WIn7 Pro 64-bit, on the internal network

ALL were set to the exact same workgroup, each had a unique internal IP address, and each had an entry in the *hosts* of all the other machines. Each could successfully ping all the other machines in the network. When browsing the workgroup, the Linux and XP boxes could see and browse all other machines on the home network, while the Win7 machine could only see itself. All were able to ping the others fine, and all had full connectivity to the internet.

Long story short... I tried everything here, and from other forums, to get the Win7 workstation to see the other machines on the network, with no success. The Win7 machine would not see the others, even though the reverse was true and it could successfully ping every one of them!

*THE ONE THING THAT WORKED* that I discovered by trial and error -- going into Services (under Control Panel/Administrative Tools) and locating TCP/IP NetBios Helper. Setting its startup to "Automatic" and starting it as a service made everything work. I mean, immediately, without a re-boot. Woo-hoo!

So... if nothing else here works, try that one. It was absolutely the only thing that solved the problem on my system.


P.S. - why is Win7 such a frustrating piece of junk when it comes to networking? You'd thing that successive versions of Windows would get BETTER, EASIER, AND MORE ROBUST?!? Compared to Win7, Linux was a snap to set up to access a WINDOWS NETWORK. But I guess I shouldn't expect too much from an OS whose biggest selling point is, "Hey, at least it's not Vista!"