Can't join Homegroup

I too cannot get the HomeGroup feature to work. I have tried most of the tips in this thread with no luck. My laptop refuses to join the homegroup I created on my desktop.

RickW said:

Getting different error code when trying to start the Peer Networking Grouping service. Windows could not start the Peer Networking Grouping service on Local Computer. Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start.

what "customizations" of your own have you done, reguarding anything connection wise, installed programs, filesharing, homegroup... all those options... need some info as to what you have done. This is probably just due to something (you or a software program) turning off the service used for HG.

What happens if you leave HG on desktop, shutdown computer. Reboot the laptop. Can you then create a HG instead of join?

try going to start/ type services.msc ... then go down the list, find the service, enable/start it, then have a look at its dependancies. Look those up and make sure that they are also running, and do the same on down the line... till everything is on and nothing left to check.

Do all of the computers in a homegroup need to be either 32-bit or 64-bit?

cab124 said:

Do all of the computers in a homegroup need to be either 32-bit or 64-bit?

HomeGroup works with 32bit or 64bit, there is no limitation here.

cab124 said:

I too cannot get the HomeGroup feature to work. I have tried most of the tips in this thread with no luck. My laptop refuses to join the homegroup I created on my desktop.

can you describe the error you are getting on your laptop when you try to join?

jkkw said:

can you describe the error you are getting on your laptop when you try to join?

I just tried to reproduce the problem so that i could tell you what error message I was getting, but I can't get to that point right now because I am having the same password problems that others are reporting. When I try to join the homegroup I created on my desktop from my laptop, I get an error saying the password is not correct when it clearly is.

When i was able to get past the password problem, I would get a message that said something like, "Cannot join a homegroup on this computer." The dialog really didn't give me any more information than that.

Something else that I am noticing that seems confusing...

If you open the HomeGroup dialog from the Control Panel and then click on the "Change Password..." link, change the password, and then click the finish button, you are taken back to the HomeGroup dialog. At this point, the only options that the user has if they want to exit are to either click the "Cancel" button, or close the window from the close ("X") button at the upper right. The "Save Changes" button is grayed out. Clicking "Cancel" does not feel appropriate at this point (feels like the password change will be canceled). It seems like the "Save Changes" button should be enabled.

As much as I want to use and like this homegroup feature, it really does feel half-baked at this point, at least in my experience.

well dont get too frustrated, as i have had this happen a few times myself, and usually it comes when installing a different build, or for that matter, another fresh install of one pc that was on the original HG while the other pc (laptop) was still connected and booted up. TBH, i dont know exactly why, i think something in the windows framework of the still joined HG pc, doesnt "let go" of the HG pc table. I noticed this when i was first installing RC on desktop, while having the laptop running with the 7000 beta. There was all kinds of wierd stuff going on there with the HG... showing the UserName then "()" without parenthesis. Was able to view the RC desktop from beta laptop, and navigate among the desktop shares, but nothing on HG, while i had setup the HG with my same share, enabled on all 6 accounts on this PC also sharing their files. Even the "microsoft" folder from the public shares wasnt showing up, so i know i had somekind of problem. But nevertheless, i just formatted the laptop and installed RC. Later on i found a somewhat similar problem with the HG library not showing contents, but the UserName and PC name now correctly showed. I had to right click properties inside the HG shared library and then go to "optomize folder for.." and another time that didnt work so reset to defaults then worked, thankfully.

So given all the quirkyness that i have seen, i know its not uncommon for this problem.
Best advice i can give is like i think i stated while back...leave any and all homegroups, completely, meaning you have to redo your HG library shares and added to library folder locations (i think), then to shutdown all pcs, 5min, along with the router, unplugged, go get something to drink or whatever. Come back and boot up just the desktop, only, after you login to desktop, then fire up router, wait a few minutes (atleast 30 secs +), go back to the desktop, create homegroup... fireup laptop, then hopefully you can then join with no problem.

Having the same problem too. Fresh install on both asus p5n-e and Sony PCG-K13. Both connect thru verizon FIOS router, sony on WLAN.
No Join Option on either. Ran out of options. No go.

amiman said:

Having the same problem too. Fresh install on both asus p5n-e and Sony PCG-K13. Both connect thru verizon FIOS router, sony on WLAN.
No Join Option on either. Ran out of options. No go.

are you possibly on a "Work" network instead of a "Home" network ?

Digger I hope you can advise me on this.

Okay I'm trying to network my computer with Win 7 RC x64 on it with my roomates Vista x32 system. The win 7 system is the one I set up the home network on and I have a printer on it and a folder on one of my HD I want to let him use for storage.

Anyway I have all the sharing option enabled as best I can tell and I set the printer to share as "Win7 HP" and the folder I want him to use marked as share to everyone and granted everyone full access rights but the printer and folder dont seem to show on his computer. I went to his network section and I see my computer (name-pc) but when I click on it I get a pop up asking for a user name and PW.

I've tried to follow all the info in this thread but am actually getting more confused going back and forth between posts trying to figure this out. With my old setup I kept a Vista x64 partition and he was at least able to send stuff to my printer without needing to log in.

Please help me as I really don't want to have to create a Vista x64 partition just so he can access the printer.