Home Group and Network Issues

[RonNYC]

I have two computers on a home network (linksys); wireless (and lan) connections. I have several problems which may be related (or not) and any help is greatly appreciated.

1. Homegroups: I've been around and around. Neither computer "thinks" it is in shared homegroup. I've tried everything I can think of. Passwords are the same, just nothing.

2. In Explorer from the Desktop, I can see the notebook but when I click on it to expand it I am asked for a network user and password. Never before. What is this? I added a Windows credential in the Credential manager but still didn't work.

3. Printing from the notebook to the printers connected (USB) to the desktop is very flakey (maybe because of the home group issue?). Both my network printers are "offline" as far as the notebook is concerned but not from the desktop.

THANKS
RON

 

[bassfisher6522]

Which PC has the home group been setup on?

 

[seavixen32]

Do both the computers have Windows 7 installed? If they don't you need to be using a workgroup rather than a homegroup.

If they do, have a read through this Microsoft article, which describes how to set up a homegroup from start to finish.

HomeGroup from start to finish - Help & How-to - Microsoft Windows

 

[RonNYC]

Yes, both computers are identical Win7. I've tried the home group on both of them, each of them. They don't see each other (that way).

 

[chev65]

When it asks for a password like that it sometimes means that the time and or date settings on both machines are out of sync with each other. All the Homegroup machines need to have the same correct time and date for the Homegroup to work correctly.

This assumes that both machines are part of the same Homegroup meaning that you created a Homegroup on one machine and used the password it gave you to join the other machine to the Homegroup.

 

[RonNYC]

The time/date settings are identical. There is no provision to join an already existing home group.

Thing is, the notebook can see the desktop media player.

And I'm sharing everything on both machines.

RON

 

[kegobeer]

Just to rule things out - did you follow the Microsoft guide on setting up a homegroup?

 

[RonNYC]

When I click on HomeGroup I get "there are no other people in your home group." On both computers. I can change the password and make both the same, to no avail. Not going to happen. No idea why.

 

[kegobeer]

Just to rule things out - did you follow the Microsoft guide on setting up a homegroup?

Just asking again, in case you missed my post.

 

[RonNYC]

yes, I followed it (there's not much to do). What I don't understand is why things change of their own accord. Now, when I click on the notebook's name in Network (from the desktop), it says it is unreachable. Yesterday I got a dialog box asking me to log in with my network ID and password (no idea what that is, by the way). Today, no. At times the Home Group did appear to be populated (but only briefly); and at times the printers connected to the Desktop have been accessible from the Notebook, but not now.

 

[ShadowMist]

Networking Pc to PC and also to Mac

Hi I am new to the forum as of today Today i setup my Laptop ( windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit) my PC ( windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit) & my IMac (Mac OS X 10.5.8) using the video tutorials from youtube, '
this one explains (easy) to connect the Window 7 machines
Networking is Easy with Windows 7 Home Groups - YouTube

this one explains (easy) to connect the Mac to Windows Homegroup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSm0YflelJ4

Hope this helps you as it did me
I also hope i am allowed to put in the urls.
cheers
Lea
good luck
P.S
I am 54 years old and not that tech savvy lol

 

[RonNYC]

Uh, uh, that worked!! I'm not sure why but it worked. THANKS!!!!

RON

 

[RonNYC]

Almost solved; got a home group, that's great. BUT the printers which are attached to the desktop and are visible to the notebook are marked as off line, but only on the notebook. Desktop is OK.

So I decided to reboot the notebook and now, no more homegroup and while the desktop's name is visible under Network (file explorer), it is not accessible.

And I'm back to where the notebook's name no longer appears under Network from the Desktop. SIGH.

A network admin I know was over last night; she spent 2 hours fussing with the computers to no avail. I've now spent 2 days on this. Very very very frustrating.

RON

 

[RonNYC]

SO, right after I wrote the above, I disconnected the wireless connection on the laptop and presto, the homegroup appeared; joined it and the printers are now, magically, ready. SO, is it a matter that network issues are inherently (or often) slow? Is that it? I feel that this setup is fragile and, to my mind, it shouldn't be.

AND NOW, when I tried to print the printer is off line. Magically, I suppose.

RON

 

[chev65]

If that video helped you didn't do it right in the first place. There is nothing special or different on that video from that I saw. In fact he left out many details which are outline in the tutorials we have here on this forum.

Maybe you forgot to push the "Home" network button first?

There are tutorials all over the internet and also on this forum that show how to set up a basic Homegroup.

If you notice in the first paragraph Brink mentions setting the location as Home for a Homegroup and having the time/date in sync but he also covers more of the required settings in more detail including required settings in your router which may be worth checking out.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/43629-network-location-set-home-work-public-network.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/43961-homegroup-create.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/43972-homegroup-add-computer-join.html

 

[RonNYC]

Look, creating a home group is not all that difficult. You click on the button and there it is. Write down the password; go to the other computer, click, click and click on Join. Problem is (one of several it seems) is that Join is not an option. Both computers often act as if they are alone, sort of. For the purposes of a Home Group they are alone.

So, I delete the home groups on both computers. Go to the Desktop, create a home group. Go to the notebook, look at Network and Sharing Center. says Ready to Create. There is no Join option anywhere.

 

[chev65]

Look, creating a home group is not all that difficult. You click on the button and there it is. Write down the password; go to the other computer, click, click and click on Join. Problem is (one of several it seems) is that Join is not an option. Both computers often act as if they are alone, sort of. For the purposes of a Home Group they are alone.

I agree, it's very simple unless things go wrong like in your case.

You mentioned that the you tube video helped but there was certainly nothing special there as far as details go.

Did it revert back to the problem again after rebooting?

If so there are a few more things we can do to fix the problem.

If you can't join or create or leave a Homegroup you need to do this on both machines.

I will show you the more direct approach to fixing the problem here. This is another Windows 7 bug apparently so you need to delate a file to fix it.

The fix for this problem seems to be Deleting the file idstore.sst under C:\windows\serviceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\PeerNetworking

Once everything at peer Networking Grouping is running you may also need to do this...

Start the Task Manager
Click on the service Tab
Find the "HomeGroupProvider"
and then stop the service.


You may need to go back into services and enable Peernetworking again after the fix. Don't forget to restart all machines making the adjustments.

Cannot leave Homegroup

 

[RonNYC]

Yes, it reverted after rebooting, but even before that, even when after some magic occurred and I created the home group on the Desktop and went to the notebook and it offered Join and I joined and it all seemed to work, and the printers were there!! and on line, as soon as I tried to print, the printer was Offline. At that point I decided to reboot and of course now it's worse.

Frankly, the issue for me is simple: I need to use Photoshop CS4. I have a legal copy and had it on both the notebook and desktop. BUT my desktop crashed and died so I got a new one. Adobe in its wisdom told me that even though I have a copy, purchased through them of CS4 (which I downloaded onto the dead and buried desktop), they will not give me access to another download. I have to buy CS5. So my only remaining copy is on the notebook and that's how I print now. But of course, now I don't print anymore.

RON

 

[kegobeer]

Well, if you can't get homegroups to work, you can always use a workgroup. It's much easier to configure (well, maybe not easier but it seems to work with less blood, sweat, and tears) and you'll get to share your printers, files, and everything else.

 

[RonNYC]

Yes, the workgroup. BOTH computers belong to the same workgroup; same network. BUT nothing.

I cannot create a network map. I used to but no longer.

BUT both computers can access my RAID drive where all the data is; both can get to the net and on occasion, both can see each other (sort of).

What I'm looking for is not so much a solution but some tool or method to drill down. Homegroup has no tools if things don't go right.