Windows Homegroup Libraries are blue & unclickable

[SN97]

So I tried to set up a homegroup between my main computer and my laptop. After some glitches, I finally get them on the same group and then this happens:

I am TS-PC trying to access SLaptop-HP. As you can see, the icons are blue and when I click them, absolutely nothing happens. What is wrong here? How do I fix this?

 

[SN97]

Any help?

 

[jefjulia]

Same problem

I have exactly the same problem, including the screen shot. One difference may be that the two machines are different OS. Both are HP computers. One is Win7 Home Premium 64 bit, and the other is Win8. Win8 can access the Win7 folders. Win7 *cannot* access the Win8 folders. On the Win7 machine, the blue folder icons show up, and clicking them does nothing.

Any solutions?

 

[chev65]

The blue icons just means that sharing for those folders isn't working, sometimes just rebooting the machines fixes that problem but there are other things that can cause this.

This guide shows how to fix most Homegroup problems that you might run into.

Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide for Windows 7 HomeGroup Connection Issues

 

[jefjulia]

Thanks

Thanks very much for posting back. I have bookmarked that link, and I will go through it carefully. I believe I have already done most of the things, but I will check for sure.

One clue in my case is that in addition to the problem I mentioned with the blue icons, I have the fundamental issue that from my Win7 computer if I try to click into Network-->Win8ComputerName, I get the well-known "You do not have permission to access \\Win8ComputerName. Contact your network administrator to request access." This is outside of the Homegroup, just looking for basic permission to access the computer. I am thinking that unless I can clear that issue up, the Homegroup problems will continue. I guess I need to re-check all of the permissions on the Win8 computer and turn off any firewalls, etc., to see if that is the issue.

Thanks again.

 

[chev65]

If you have any type of third party A/V security software installed it will also cause this type of problem. It's best to set up your network or Homegroup then install the A/V software after doing that.

Be sure the time/date is in sync on those machines, the guide covers most of those types of problems.

 

[jefjulia]

After I uninstalled Norton Internet Security and switched over to Windows Firewall and Windows Defender, all Homegroups and sharing started to work instantly.

 

[chev65]

After I uninstalled Norton Internet Security and switched over to Windows Firewall and Windows Defender, all Homegroups and sharing started to work instantly.

I'm quite unsurprised.

Hopefully SN97 is following along.

Now that your Homegroup is set up and working you can usually reinstall Norton without issues, it will see your network and create rules accordingly.

 

[jefjulia]

I might stick with W. Firewall and W. Defender. They should perform all the Norton I.S. does, I suppose? And no annual license fee required.

 

[chev65]

I might stick with W. Firewall and W. Defender. They should perform all the Norton I.S. does, I suppose? And no annual license fee required.

Well you couldn't pay me to use anything resembling Norton so it's easy for me to agree with you on this.