Yes Ken, the person whop told us to turn off ipv6 had more to do with random disconnects than homegroup issues.........
What is the best way to set up workgroup? I have never used it..
To avoid confusion.
Homegroup networking is a name for the new (supposedly) easy way to setup a network.
Setting up A workgroup is the old way.
Just as easy, more secure and more versatile.
There are a few basic principles you have to pay attention to and then it's child's play.
1. Before Vista, all the computers in the network needed to have the same network name.
Although this is not necessary for Vista and Win7, I recommend setting it, just in case you occasionally need to connect a XP machine to the network.
To do this:
click on start orb, in searchfield type systempropertiesadvanced.exe
and press enter.
Goto the Computername tab
click on the edit button
In the "workgroup" box type the name you want for your group.
(This can be anything, but keep it short and simple, and no spaces or strange signs)
There are no objections to keeping the default workgroup name.
After changing you need to reboot.
Do this procedure on all computers.
After changing and rebooting all the computers, they all should see each other in network.
If not, a number of things could cause it.
Maybe you changed some settings in network settings, like discovery.
Or a firewall could be blocking it.
Before you change anything, disable all firewalls, including 3rd party firewalls.
If all computers see each other now, you must examine the firewalls for too strict settings.
If they still don't see each other or not all of them, check back here.
2. If all computers see each other, you need to have at least one shared folder on each of them, to be able to do anything with your network.
Let's set up a shared folder on one of the computers.
a. Open the explorer and go to the folder you want to share.
b. Right click on it, click on properties and select the share tab.
c. now click on advanced sharing.
d. Tick the "share this folder" box.
e. click on permissions
f. for everyone check all the boxes ie "full permissions"
g. click ok until you are back in the explorer
h. close the explorer
You have now shared a folder.
Remember the username and password you use for this computer.
You'll need it later on the other computers.
3. Now go to any of the other computers.
a. open the explorer
b. in the left pane click on network
c. in the right pane doubleclick on the computer you just shared the folder on.
d. fill in the username and password you normally use to login the computer you set up the shared folder.
f. click ok
Now you should be entering the folder.
If not, check back here.
Good luck
