Win7 Homegroups - How do I use them

Optiker said:

chev65...already turned on

Kari...OK...can do, as soon as I remember where I put my password. I tried turning off the password requirement in the sharing center, but that didn't seem to do it. I'll keep trying, but I think it's time to let this thread die. You've certainly led me by the hand through the necessary steps. Thanks very much for your patience.

Optiker

In that case you have are using the same machine name for both machines which will prevent them from showing up under Network.

The User names can be the same but the machine names need to be unique.

Hi Kari...

Both computers are set to not use password protection.

When I try to access the desktop PC from the laptop PC using Explorer, or try to map a network drive on the desktop to access it from the laptop, I get a dialog requesting the network name and password. What name and password are these, the ones for the network when I set up my router, or something else? I tried the name and password that I use to access my server drives over the LAN, but that didn't work.

When I try to access the laptop PC from the desktop PC using Explorer, or by mapping a network drive, there is no request for network name and password, but I get access to only items under "Library".

Must be some permissions setting on the lap[top?

Suggestions?

Thanks!
Optiker

OK - thanks! Will try it.

Optiker

Hi Kari...

I've had other more pressing issues, so haven't even tried what you suggest, and am now far enough away from it to not recall what I've tried and where it stands.

The more pressing issue is that since I last tried to do anything with regard to Homegroups, I've had a periodic (2-3 times in a 24 hour period) BlueScreen failure that I haven't been able to track down. Initially I thought it might be due to an email utility I use that checks my email account and displays header info and a few lines before I actually download the emails. One failure seemed associated with that so I turned it off from automatically checking and have just been manually launching it when I want to check email, but the BlueScreens continue.

I've tried to dis around in my log files, but at my level of expertise, don't know where to look or what to look for. The one thing I see is a lot of "error" listings that don't say anything about BlueScreen, but are associated with some kind of Homegroup services.

I'll be posting to a different Windows Seven forum with some info and asking for help in diagnosing.

In the meantime, the whole Homegroup thing is on hold. I probably would be better off undoing the things I've tried to do and going back to square one and starting over to try to get my two computers talking to one another, but will see if I can pick it up where I left off or not when I get back to it.

Thanks for your past help. You'll undoubtedly see me pick this up in the future.

Optiker