Networking 7 Pro tower & Ultimate laptop fails

[bachware]

I have a 32-bit Win 7 tower machine (Realtek 8139 NIC) and a 64-bit Win 7 laptop (JMicron NIC) both wire-connected to the same switch as a Home Network named "Network," access type "Internet," and either computer shows the other in Network and Sharing | full map, but not on the other's Network & Sharing Center, nor are either one's resources visible or accessible on the other, despite having shared their drive roots, etc.

Both have no problems accessing the Internet through the switch, have the same workgroup name (WORKGROUP), use the same User ID for login, and the same profile password. However, the laptop's Network ID button in the System Properties | Computer Name tab is greyed out, which is not the case for the tower computer.

I can not get Home Group to work between them either — I guess because the network connectoids report there's no IPv6 connectivity, which as I understand it is required for HG. But, networking troubleshooters report no problems on either machine.

Antivirus/firewall is provided by Trend Micro Network Security.

Despite M$ claiming that networking is easier and better than ever, my experience seems to contradict that . . . . Suggestions? Thanks!

 

[chev65]

Ok the IPv6 "no internet access" is perfectly normal because the IPv6 protocol works only on the LAN.

Sharing the root of the drive isn't really how you share folders and files with Windows 7, it can be done but it's considered a security risk so it's harder to do. You would be far better served sharing the "User" folder instead.

Your Anti Virus can cause problems with sharing also, I havn't seen many using Trend Micro Security so I'm not sure if it works well with Windows 7 or not so you may need to work the the settings or disable or uninstall it in order to set up your Homegroup.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/43961-homegroup-create.html?filter

Permissions on folders are done like in this tutorial.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/24232-sharing-permissions.html?filter

Try going through this Homegroup trouble shooting list.
Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide for Windows 7 HomeGroup Connection Issues

If you really need to share the root of your drives you will need to go into the Security settings tab and enable sharing from there also.