Can't join Homegroup

[SquonkSC]

Just a tip (which you can also conclude from the last two posts).

When setting up a network, always, always, ALWAYS uninstall 3rd party firewalls, or at the least make sure you know how to configure it properly.

After everything works, install one 3rd party firewall at a time and make sure it is configured properly.

The windows firewall is more than enough to protect you while setting up your network.

People try an endless string of troubleshooting, installing new drivers etc.. while it was the firewall that blocked proper network functioning all the time.

Greetings.

 

[Big Tommy]

I do not see a JOIN option on either computer wether I set up the homegroup on either machine. This is driving me nuts.

 

[mickey57]

....I am having the same friggin' problem.I have no problem with booting up in xp to share the printer with my Win 7 laptop though.This home group was working at one time!All I get now is 'Cannot create home group on this computer' when using the password from my desktops home group.Really don't care but it bugs the hell out of me.

 

[Caillah]

Maybe it's the original Network setup problem?

I have Windows 7 on 3 machines. I have Created the Homegroup on computer 1 (for the example it is called Caillah) and attempted to Join the Homegroup with computer 2 (called Test - PC). The second computer does not recognize the Homegroup being set up on the network.

I have checked the Peer Networking, Local internet connection, shut down the third party firewall and I still can't get it to work.

I tried the "trick" mentioned in this thread. I created the Homegroup on Comp 1 and then did the troubleshoot on Comp 2. I then created on Comp 2 and attempted to Join on Comp 1. For some reason Comp 1 now recognized that Comp 2 had created a Homegroup and gave me a join button and a place to enter the password. I did this and received an error message that a Homegroup could not be created on this computer.

I am wondering now if in fact it is a Network issue. When I go in to Network Sharing and click on Map, not all computers are properly recognized but I am not sure how to go about fixing that. I have done all the troubleshoot options but it can't find the error.

Both computer 1 and computer 2 are connected to the internet by ethernet. The third computer (Michael-Frost) is wireless and is also Windows 7 and at this point we have made not attempt to link it. The other computer (Sam) is a laptop, wireless but is still on Vista and I understand that Homegroup function with it (or at least not easily and the "easy" connect isn't working anyway ). We have a wireless printer and it works with both wired computers as well as the wireless laptop.

In the "My Computer" area Homegroup shows no other computers but in Network both Comp 1 and Comp 2 are visible as is the printer memory.

The network maps for Computer 1 (known as Caillah)and Computer 2 (known as Test - PC) are as attached. I have also included the error message on Computer 1 which I got when I attempted to "trick" it in to setting up from computer 2.

I hope you are able to follow what I have done. I see that many people are struggling with the same issue and I am hoping that my including my response we might all figure out what the glitch is.

 

[Caillah]

Resolved my Issue of not being able to JOIN

I found a thread somewhere that suggested it might be the third party firewall.

I disabled my third party firewall on both machines and was able to join and be seen. I then enabled the firewall and it shut down. So I disabled the firewall again and switched to the Windows Firewall and had to do a troubleshoot for it "fix" it and it works fine now.

Hope this might help someone else.

 

[Jacee]

This also might help:
Networking home computers running different versions of Windows

 

[mickey57]

.....My fix was to leave Home-group on both my desktop and laptop then create the home-group on my laptop and join home-group from my desktop.Really doesn't make sense to me.My desktop is the one with the printer.

 

[Swed]

Head Ache has ended...

Well folks... I had similar problems that led me to this blog. I have found the Home Group creation to be a pain as well. I have a Toshiba a505 running Win7 Home and an AMD PC running Win7 Ultimate; both in 64bit. I was having fits because I could create the groups ok on the two systems and I could see the shared folders from each, but could not open them. Additionally, on my Home Group status screen I saw that there was a network printer available. I clicked the "install printer" button and nothing happened. If I clicked on any folder on the network I would get a message saying either system was unavailable. Thanks to one gentleman poster on this blog, I thought of my firewalls. I have installed Kapersky 2010 on my laptop and Vipre on my PC. My Vipre does not have a 64bit compatible firewall so I have to use Windows firewall, however I forgot that Kapersky has a firewall. DUH! Anyway... I went into my firewall settings for Kapersky and allowed my Home Group (which was listed) in the "Trusted" area, and bingo! Just goes to show sometimes the most obvious things can keep you up all night (or for days). Hope this helps someone such as I. Happy New Year... Swed

 

[iancamarillo]

Homegroup on wireless computers

After weeks of frustration I finally was able to join a homegroup between two wireless computers. The frustrating part was the laptop would only join when physically plugged into the router - which led me to believe the drivers in the laptop were outdated. But that wasn't the case. It's because I used the "guest password" on the laptop that only connects to the internet. The guest password was setup when I installed my Belkin router. So instead I used the crazy long "network security key" and now everything works fine!

 

[Barman58]

One thing I have noticed with homegroup is that it is very aware of what other networks the machines are connected to.

I have found that a perfectly working Homegroup will refuse to connect if it discovers a connection, on one of the systems, to an open public network.

Not something that will apply to everyone but is more likely with the use of mobile broadband "dongles" and the like.

Something to be aware of anyway

 

[eegleye]

I too have been fighting the HomeGroup battle. I finally contacted Netgear and found out that my Netgear WNR3500 doe NOT support IPv6, therefore HomeGroup will never work. I suggest any of you guys fighting this problem find out if your router will forward IPv6 packets.

 

[G del Treve]

This is the solution!!!! Thanks Shawn!!

Hey everyone! I was having the same problem but I found a solution. Apparently, not sure why, but Windows did not change the settings in the registry after enabling IPv6. I found a solution over here.

For anyone else having this problem:


1. Click Start. Search for run and press enter. In the field, type regedit and press OK.

2. In the registry, navigate to the following key.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Services
\Tcpip6
\Parameters

​

3. In the right pane, right-click on “DisabledComponents” and select modify. In the value data field, type “0″ (without quotations) and press OK. If the value was set to ``FF``, it was turned off.
4. Reboot your computer and it should work. It did for me.

 

[Vailsburg]

DISABLE FIREWALLS!!! Firewalls will block other computers from attempting to connect. Try disabling your Anti-virus software FIREWALL only. EX: Norton, McAfee etc. Worked for me! Good luck.

 

[mikegray223]

Home Group

I have a Net Gear WNR 3500 router also and have homegroup up and working. It is not the router's problem. My problem early on was with the firewalls. I had to delete McAfee which left only Microsoft. After setting up the homegroup, I re-installed McAfee and all is well in network land.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[gyork]

The problem I'm having is that I can access the "Home Group" file sharing folder in the Control Panel, but no where does it give me the option to create or join the "Home Group".

I'm trying to network an HP Pavilion desktop connected to my router via patch cable to an HP laptop and having the same problems on both ends.

 

[ownedandout]

AVG free

If anyone is using AVG free anti-virus that will be causing the problem. It makes homegroup very inconsistent and it would be trying homegroup with it uninstalled.

Hope this helps.

 

[gyork]

The problem I'm having is that I can access the "Home Group" file sharing folder in the Control Panel, but no where does it give me the option to create or join the "Home Group".

I'm trying to network an HP Pavilion desktop connected to my router via patch cable to an HP laptop and having the same problems on both ends.

I don't have AVG or a third party firewall; is there a solution out there for the problem I'm experiencing?

 

[chev65]

The problem I'm having is that I can access the "Home Group" file sharing folder in the Control Panel, but no where does it give me the option to create or join the "Home Group".

I'm trying to network an HP Pavilion desktop connected to my router via patch cable to an HP laptop and having the same problems on both ends.

I don't have AVG or a third party firewall; is there a solution out there for the problem I'm experiencing?

You can only create a Homegroup with Windows 7 Home Premium or above. I'm not sure what you mean by patch cable? You should be using a standard eithernet cable to the router.

You might want to go down this Homegroup check list and make sure everything is correct.
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-cannot-connect-to-homegroup/

 

[fengkunliu]

Well, I also had the same problem but now my problem is solved! I have a desktop and laptop. When I create a homegroup on one computer, the other computer has no "ready to join" button since no homegroup is detected.

After trying various ways mentioned in this thread and some others, I still didn't solve the problem. Then I noticed the computer name on my desktop and laptop are the same. So I just tried to change the computer name on my laptop so that the two computers have different names, and guess what? It just detected the homegroup immediately. So now I can join the homegroup.

How I did to change computer name (Win 7):

1. Go to Control Panel\System and Security\System
2. In Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click on "Change settings" you'll get system properties window.
3. Under the "Computer name" tag, click on "change" button, you'll be able to change your computer name.

Hope this will work for you!

 

[chev65]

Yes indeed your networked machines need to use a different machine name or one of them simply will not show up and because you can't create a Homegroup with only one machine you were unable to create the Homegroup. Thanks for reporting in fingkunliu.

Other relivant links below about Homegroup connection problems.

Windows 7 Homegroup Invalid Passwords Because of Date and Time Settings - Resolve the issue with a simple workaround - Softpedia

http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/55781-cannot-leave-homegroup.html

Windows 7 HomeGroup: Walkthrough

Homegroup Password is incorrect?

Cannot change active network from public to home in Windows 7

HomeGroup get an error of must have IPv6 enabled

If one of these links helped you fix your problem don't forget to Rep.