Other than the Windows Update issue that seems widespread, my Win 8 upgrade is working OK, but the Homegroup needs your help (I’ve searched and read the other threads here but no answers that fit).
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[*]My Win 8 Pro (retail) upgrade over Win 7 HP (both 64bit) preserved my existing Workgroup. The desktop is ethernet to the router (D-Link DIR-655) and the laptop is wireless.
[*]As Woody says in his Win 8 book, a Homegroup coexists nicely within a Workgroup, and once set up initially by one PC, all are “equals” within the Homegroup without one being the “boss” over the other.
[*]At present on each machine, Network and Sharing Center show “joined” to a Homegroup as well as being in the Workgroup. The Win 7 network map sees the desktop. Win 8 has no such map, but does see the laptop’s shared workgroup folders. Access to these is denied due to a permissions problem (see second theory below)
[*]Also, both machines show all the libraries I selected for the Homegroup as being shared.
[*]However, clicking on the navigation panel’s Homegroup on the desktop’s File Explorer and the laptop’s Computer shortcuts produces a “No other homegroup PC’s are available right now”.
[*]The Homegroup troubleshooter finds no problems to solve on either PC.
[*]Each PC can ping the other’s IP address.
The above conditions remain the same even after I went into my Advanced Sharing and gave full control to Homegroup users on every folder. When that did not work, I decided to delete all such shared folders under my workgroup, to see if they were interfering with the Homegroup sharing. That left the workgroup functioning essentially for internet access and wireless printer sharing, nothing else.
I have two theories. The first is that Win 7’s Homegroup Listener service will not start (another widespread Win 7 issue). The second is User name and password conflicts. For the first time in years since NT4, I’m logging on with a different user name and password to my desktop than what I use on the laptop, due to use of a Microsoft Account logon choice I made when installing Win 8. I’ve tried to go into my laptop’s Control Panel|System to copy my Win 7 profile over to a new one with the same name as my desktop, but of course that “copy to” button remains grayed out as it has been for years.
If I create a new Win 8 local user separate from the Microsoft Account, with the same user name and password as my laptop, will I have to reinstall all my apps again? Other ideas?
