Homegroup Trouble... Help!!

[makio89]

Hi folks,

I've been reading these forums for a while and they have provided tons of solutions for me, hopefully you can help me now

I have finally gotten round to installing 7100 on three machines (Mum's desktop, my Mini9 and my desktop), and decided to try out the new homegroup feature. Unfortunately it has not been as easy as I had hoped.

My mum's desktop is the first computer to have 7100 installed and therefore owns the password for the group. When I connected my mini it worked fine, no problems at all. I thought, "Great! mine should be easy!". WRONG!!!

First of all, when I would try to connect with the standard password it would say that it was incorrect (I checked multiple times, it was entirely correct). So, I changed it and tried again, it would not connect, but this time it would only say that it can't connect.

At this point I used the trouble shooter on my machine and it said that our system times are different, so I synchronized them, and it still didn't fix the problem. Now it is just saying that I can't connect with no explanation...

So, I figured it might be a problem with mum's machine. I went straight to the troubleshooter and it said there was a problem with Norton Internet Security (which she installed against my advice, I'm running AVG and haven't had any problems). I turned off everything in Norton and tried again. No dice...

We can both see each other on the network, but we can't access files or share anything. We can both see and access our home server, but mum can't back anything up. I'm fresh out of ideas, and any help would be awesome!!

 

[Captain Zero]

I blame Norton but I have no basis for that, other than simply hating everything they make. If anything, the firewall option may be causing conflicts. When I run into an 'unknown' like that, clean install. But that's just me.

Troubleshooting homegroups is pretty straight-forward, though. If you can add files to the share (right-click, select share over homegroup) it's a good sign the services and connections are working. Double-checking the passwords at this point is also a good idea and if mum's machine is also on the router (presumably) make sure it's not configured to block traffic for some reason.

Logging into your router is easy enough, open a browser and enter your default gateway (usually a 192.x.x.x number).

Lastly, you may want to review this, it's probably the most informative read on Homegroups. You may find your answer there.

 

[makio89]

hmmm... Thanks for you help Captain, but none of that has solved my issues all LAN traffic is allowed on the router and I couldn't find anything in the blog post...

I might need to try a fresh install, but I really don't want to

 

[jkkw]

ok, try starting from scratch. On the PC that created the homegroup, leave the homegroup, reboot. On the PC that is trying to join, reboot as well. It sounds like you are using a firewall product, make sure it is set to "trusted" or equivalent. Basically, you do not want your firewall blocking traffic between PCs. If you can, i would suggest that you uninstall them first.

• Now on the 1st PC, create the homegroup
• do not change the password, just use the auto-generated one
• On the 2nd PC, try to join.
• after you have succeeded here, then change password.

If this fails, let me know, and we can troubleshoot further.

thanks.

 

[migz858]

I found a solution that worked

I was plagued with this problem for about 2 weeks until i did one simple thing...i checked to see if all computers in my homegroup were set to the same date and time. Surely enough they weren't. When i set the time right on all computers it stopped b***hin about the password. Everything works fine now. Easy Fix. Hope this helps.

 

[Matos]

Homegroup... NIS2010.... AAAURGH!

I've been reading that other people are having issues.. here is mine.
I have a box with Windows 7 RTM and one with Windows 7 RC (not the issue). When I set up home group it works fine. After I've installed NIS10 on both systems the Win 7 RTM sees the RC but not the other way around. I've looked and all the settings in Norton are the same on both machines. The firewall settings are the same. When I then uninstall NIS10 it all works fine. The problem is with Norton but I, the Norton Tech person (and his supervisor) can't figure it out. If any of you have a solution (other then not using Norton) I would be happy to hear it.

 

[TheSchaft]

I've been reading that other people are having issues.. here is mine.
I have a box with Windows 7 RTM and one with Windows 7 RC (not the issue). When I set up home group it works fine. After I've installed NIS10 on both systems the Win 7 RTM sees the RC but not the other way around. I've looked and all the settings in Norton are the same on both machines. The firewall settings are the same. When I then uninstall NIS10 it all works fine. The problem is with Norton but I, the Norton Tech person (and his supervisor) can't figure it out. If any of you have a solution (other then not using Norton) I would be happy to hear it.

Since the problem is with Norton, I would advise taking it off, at least for a while, if you have sent them all the information they requested.

You can more than get by with other solutions until they figure out what their problems are - and obviously the problems are in their arena.

I would recommend MSE for antivirus/anitmalware/real time protection, and one of the following for a firewall:
Windows 7 firewall - defaults are pretty good
Windows 7 firewall controller - http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html - uses Windows security platform and you can set the permissions easily even with the free version
COMODO Firewall (don't include Defense+)

Windows has come a looooong way since XP in its firewall and antivirus programs, and they work now without too much hassle.

P.S. - Welcome to Seven Forums...