A homegroup in Windows 7 is a means by which users of a home based, generally wireless network, can share resources (hard drives, libraries, printers, etc.) easily and without too much trouble.
Because one computer can only belong to one homegroup at a time, most small home based networks have just one homegroup that everyone on the home network uses. And because everyone has to supply a password before gaining access, security is pretty tight.
Homegroups are not set up by default, so it must be set up before anyone on the network can join. To create a homegroup, choose one of the Windows 7 based computers and bring up Control Panel.
Click on Choose homegroup and sharing options.
If you don’t yet belong to a homegroup, and one hasn’t yet been created on your home network, you should see the window that says, “There is currently no homegroup on the network.” Click on the button farther down that says, Create a homgroup.
You should get this next screen where you are shown which libraries exist on your computer for you to share with others on the network:
Once you have chosen which libraries you wish to share, by checking the appropriate boxes, click the Next button. You’ll get a progress bar for a moment, then you should get this next screen giving you the password you’ll need to add other computers on your network to your homegroup. You should write it down or print it if you plan to keep using it.
When you click the Finish button, the homegroup setup is completed, and all of the windows and menus will go away leaving you back at the Control Panel window. Then since you probably don’t want to keep the computer generated password, click where it says Change the Password.
You should get this popup:
Once you click on Change the password, you should get this screen:
Type in a good password that you’ll remember then click the Next button. You should get this screen:
Click Finish and that should be it for creating your homegroup.
Now that you’ve got a reasonably good password, head on over to one of your other networked computers and bring up Control Panel again, and once again, click on Choose homegroup and sharing options. This time you should get a message telling you that “Somebody on SomeComputer has created a homepage on the network.” Of course on your network, Somebody and SomeComputer will be your own name and computer name.
Clicking Join now, should get you this next screen:
Check or uncheck whichever libraries you wish to share, then click the Next button. You should get this next screen asking for the password you just created on the first computer:
After you type in the password and click Next, you should get this screen:
Which means you are now finally ready to see the results of your efforts.
Close down Control Panel and bring up File Manager; note where it shows you your homegroup:
From here on in you can use your homegroup just like any other library, you can also change what is shared on any computer on the network at any time by going to Control Panel on that computer and clicking on Choose homegroup and sharing options. You can also add libraries not on the default list by creating a new library and then clicking on Share with, in File Manager.
Because one computer can only belong to one homegroup at a time, most small home based networks have just one homegroup that everyone on the home network uses. And because everyone has to supply a password before gaining access, security is pretty tight.
Homegroups are not set up by default, so it must be set up before anyone on the network can join. To create a homegroup, choose one of the Windows 7 based computers and bring up Control Panel.
Click on Choose homegroup and sharing options.
If you don’t yet belong to a homegroup, and one hasn’t yet been created on your home network, you should see the window that says, “There is currently no homegroup on the network.” Click on the button farther down that says, Create a homgroup.
You should get this next screen where you are shown which libraries exist on your computer for you to share with others on the network:
Once you have chosen which libraries you wish to share, by checking the appropriate boxes, click the Next button. You’ll get a progress bar for a moment, then you should get this next screen giving you the password you’ll need to add other computers on your network to your homegroup. You should write it down or print it if you plan to keep using it.
When you click the Finish button, the homegroup setup is completed, and all of the windows and menus will go away leaving you back at the Control Panel window. Then since you probably don’t want to keep the computer generated password, click where it says Change the Password.
You should get this popup:
Once you click on Change the password, you should get this screen:
Type in a good password that you’ll remember then click the Next button. You should get this screen:
Click Finish and that should be it for creating your homegroup.
Now that you’ve got a reasonably good password, head on over to one of your other networked computers and bring up Control Panel again, and once again, click on Choose homegroup and sharing options. This time you should get a message telling you that “Somebody on SomeComputer has created a homepage on the network.” Of course on your network, Somebody and SomeComputer will be your own name and computer name.
Clicking Join now, should get you this next screen:
Check or uncheck whichever libraries you wish to share, then click the Next button. You should get this next screen asking for the password you just created on the first computer:
After you type in the password and click Next, you should get this screen:
Which means you are now finally ready to see the results of your efforts.
Close down Control Panel and bring up File Manager; note where it shows you your homegroup:
From here on in you can use your homegroup just like any other library, you can also change what is shared on any computer on the network at any time by going to Control Panel on that computer and clicking on Choose homegroup and sharing options. You can also add libraries not on the default list by creating a new library and then clicking on Share with, in File Manager.
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