Unknown computer is main HomeGroup computer so can't access!

[MelissaVoicer]

OK, this is a strange one, and I SOOO appreciate anyone who is willing to muddle through it and try to help:

I bought a new laptop (Toshiba satellite p755, running windows 64 bit 7 home premium) and decided to put it on a homegroup with my old desktop pc (asus windows 7 home premium 64 bit) but when I hit homegroup, it says "owner on owner-pc has started a homegroup." now that's all well and good, and I understand the whole "how to find a lost password" thing...the problem is, I don't know what computer could be owner-pc! My new laptop is called "MelissaNewLaptop" and my desktop is called "MelissaOffice." My husband and son both have laptops with different names too. We are all on a shared home network, also not called owner-pc. The only computer I can't access is my old laptop because it's dead...which is why I bought a new one. Now even if we assume that was owner-pc (which I am 99% sure I renamed it) I can't figure out how to delete the whole homegroup and start over with the new computers. There just HAS to be a way because let's say, for example, that the computer that started the homegroup was stolen....then I couldn't possibly go to it to find out the password. And I cannot get the password from any other computers on the homegroup, because none are on the homegroup! So I'm stuck with both my new laptop and old desktop saying that there is a homegroup already that I need a password to join which I cannot get! I can't "unjoin," because I'm not joined in the first place but it won't let me create a whole new homegroup because supposedly there is one on my network already. Any ideas?

 

[bassfisher6522]

First...what kind of wireless protection are you using if any at all? Sounds like there's an intruder...hijacker of some kind.

As for your problem and question to start over....just open up network and sharing then on the left side of window select homegroup and unjoin homegroup. You must do this for all pc's that are connected to the current homegroup. Then pick one pc to create the new homegroup and have all others join the new network.

 

[MelissaVoicer]

Hi, thanks for the response...first of all, as I said, I cannot unjoin the homegroup, because no computers are actually connected to it...it just says that it EXISTS is all...BUT

I was just about to post an update because lo and behold, I discovered what the "owner-pc" is...never would have thunk it...but it's my TELEVISION! Yes, I have a Samsung "smart tv" with internet@tv stuff, and I have somehow created a homegroup on it. (It is also on my network, so I can currently, for example, see pictures I've uploaded to my new laptop on the tv even without the homegroup. I am still trying to figure out where the homegroup info is stored on the tv however, so I can discover the password and join the other computers onto it, but so far no luck.

 

[Dwarf]

Does the manual give you this information?

 

[MelissaVoicer]

Resolved!

OK, so first of all: no, this information is NOT in the manual...that I saw at least, but I had been focusing on the television....NOT the blu ray player...which is what it turned out to be. Here's the fix:

I have a Samsung 3d blu ray player hooked to a samsung smart tv. It has a feature called "anynet," which allows the tv to communicate smoothly with its components. This feature CREATES A WINDOWS HOMEGROUP BETWEEN THE DEVICES. So when I navigated to the Blu Ray settings with the Blu Ray remote and scrolled to system and turned Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC) to OFF, immediately the "owner-pc" created homegroup disappeared from my computers and I was able to creaet a new one. Switching the Anynet feature back on after the new homegroup was created did not affect it, so yea! I have outsmarted my stupid TV/Blu ray!! Hope this helps someone else before they waste a day of their life trying to figure it out. By the way, Samsung's tech support was a joke. They couldn't even understand my problem, much less solve it.

 

[Reyntinn]

I have similar problem!

And I wish you would have gotten an answer! So I had my homegroup set up and I had one other laptop connected to it. The one was my sons laptop that he no longer has. The other was my computer that crashed and I had to replace the hard drive. Now all of my computers are saying that I have to join the group already created. Of course I don't have the hard drive that created that group so I can delete it and I do not have the account password to join it. Any way at all to delete a homegroup if you do not have access to the computer (hard drive) that created it???