Win8 computer will not network with Win7 computer

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After one hour with MS help today, I have been unable to get my Win8 computer to network with my Win7 computer. The MS “helper” was completely useless. He repeated the same things many times, getting the same results (failure) each time, so I gave up, not wanting to do another 5h 40m marathon. Maybe someone here will have a good suggestion.

Both computers are able to see the name of the other computer, but cannot connect. Both are wired to a router that also has my Linux machine. The Linux machine can find and communicate with the Win7 machine. Before installing Win8, the computer that now has it was able to easily exchange files with the older Win7 machine.

After finding the Win7 machine, my Win8 machine says it “cannot access” it. I get this error:
0x80070035
I also get the message “the remote device won’t accept the connections.”
I tried “set up a network.” It says it may take 90 seconds to find and list something (probably the existing network as defined on the Win7 machine). At that point nothing happens. Not in 90 seconds or 30 minutes.
I tried the “troubleshoot” feature. It doesn’t find anything or report anything.
I tried various online tutorials, but they led me to make selections that do not exist on my screen.
When I go to the Metro screen and type in “homegroup” it finds nothing! I thought that term was a MS term and that it was supposed to be a real feature.
The control panel finds homegroup. I select “join now” and enter the password. Then Windows 8 says “Windows no longer detects a homegroup on this network.” It tells me to click OK, then open homegroup in the control panel. That option does not appear when I click OK.

I also searched here for networking discussions, but none seemed to address the problems I have experienced.
Any suggestions?

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I don’t use Homegroup, I use regular networking. I have sharing enabled on several partitions on my desktop, and I use the same username and password on my laptop as one of the user accounts on the desktop. My laptop is running Windows 8 and my desktop is running Windows 7.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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I have been using Homegroup. First make sure the Homegroup password is the same for both (CP, Homegroup, View or print password)

Then on each PC, go through Advanced Sharing and set it up. I then had to go into each PC, right click on the C Drive and set up sharing there. I took a further step and went to the Users folders and did the same thing there.

I my switch to regular networking, but for now Homegroup is working for me. I have 2 laptops with Win 8 Pro and a Desktop with Win 7 HP and all are networked.

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I did nothing to my install except change the network sharing settings; file discovery on, user accounts instead of homegroup (leave your’s be if using homegroup) and no password required. This got me into the public folder which is shared by default, usernames could not be more different so that’s no issue, I suspect the same with password though I use the same one for convenience. Even my workgroup names are different, still no problem.

So, first thing I would think if those basic settings are in effect is any and all possible security programs or firewalls that might be blocking networking. I’m about 80% successful at troubleshooting over the phone where networking is installed, I ask if they have Norton or McAfee or Zone Alarm or trusted platform installed, if yes, I say uninstall that (sometimes requiring the appropriate removal tool), and it works.

If there’s nothing at all router or computer based security whatsoever, then we might need a list of things already tried with MS, for instance it sounds like you are using homegroup, well, was one of the troubleshooting actions to take the computer out of homegroup and use user accounts and/or trying a homegroup refresh? Is IPv6 enabled? Etc., etc. With that much time on the phone there must have been a pretty extensive list of troubleshooting items covered.

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So far, no luck with it. Win8 does not offer “view or print PW.” I tried working from the Win7 end. It offers the “view or print” but does not respond to the right click; to change PW it says “windows cannot setup a homegroup on this computer.” To setup a new network, it gives the “up to 90 seconds” thing, then does nothing, even after 5 or more minutes.

I think I need to troubleshoot the firewalls, as FUN suggested. I have Comodo on the Win7 machine and can turn it off. I am using the built-in one on Win8 and will see if I can figure out a way to turn it off. The strange thing is that the networking worked fine before I installed Win8, but before that I was using Comodo firewall on both computers.

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It is possible then that the Homegroup is not enabled in Win 8. Since Win 7 has a Homegroup already set up, click on Join a Homegroup in Win 8 and enter the password from Win 7.

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Medico – I tried that right off, and the MS person tried it about 8 times. What happens is that when the password is entered, Windows says “Windows no longer detects a homegroup on this network.” It finds the other computer by name and offers to let me join the homegroup. I would be happy to not use homegroup and use the old XP kind of network, but something is simply not working. There is a link that says “View your basic network, etc.” but that link doesn’t do anything. When I try to setup a new network, Win8 will not proceed past the “this might take up to 90 seconds” message.

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When I went to my Homegroup on Win7 it indicated that my Virtual Win 8 had created its own homegroup already. If you haven’t removed the Win 7 computer from its own homegroup, I would try that, reboot and go back to the homegroup and see if you get any similar network messages about homegroup, or see if at that point if you can make normal networking work without any homegroups.

If you are getting out to the Internet from both systems through the same router, no need to set up any new network, its already there, just not working properly for whatever reason.

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It’s difficult to help in detail because we don’t know specifically what Microsoft looked at.

So, my approach is to go back to basics. Can you ping the Windows 7 PC from the Windows 8 machine by IP address and by name? What IP addresses do the Win 7 and Win 8 box use…are they on the same subnet? Is NetBIOS enabled on the Win8 box?

All those are designed to establish if the Win8 box can actually see the Win 7 box even before you attempt to network them.

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As of the last time I tried, Win8 is now able to read some of the folders on my Win7 machine. My 1 hour session with MS help did nothing. Today I spent 4 hours with a guy who was connected to both of my computers. Yes, that is not a typo, 4 HOURS. Anyway, he did so many things that I am unable to explain what worked or to tell you whether there are or are not remaining problems. I will have to spend some time testing it. Both OS’es seemed to want to block every effort to make them connect. It seems to me that the approach, even at worst case, should have been to remove all networks and to simply install new ones. The existing networks, however, were not willing to go quietly. My next job is to see if I can get my Ubuntu computer to connect to the two Windows computers. This all worked well before I installed Win8.

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I do have the same issue. I upgraded my laptop from Win 7 to Win 8 Pro without a problem. My desktop runs Windows 7 Home Premium and has a homegroup. I am on cable that runs into the cable modem and from the modem to a Belkin router (new). So, the laptop is connected by WiFi. When I open the Network and Sharing Center in Win 8, I find my WiFi connection as Private Network and Homegroup: Available to join. Trying to join the homegroup ends up in the message: Windows no longer detects a homegroup on this network. I checked the Internet (Google) with various queries with no real result for a solution. It seems that quite a lot of users have this issue, but even Microsoft cannot come up with a real solution. I linked to various MS sites with suggestions, but they do not work either.

I must mention that I can access my shared folders in the desktop PC and vicaversus, but I want a solution to the issue by Microsoft.

This is one of typical Issues where MS seems totally uninterested or unable to provide a clear and simple solution to the issue. It cannot be so difficult for them to help. Maybe, it is just one simple (hidden) setting that is causing the issue. If there is a solution to it, it should be published in the Windows Secrets Newsletter in an article by Fred Langa perhaps. I am looking forward to that. I am a 10 year subscriber to the Langa Letter which joined the Windows Secrets Newsletter.

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Robert W, hello. ” I also searched here for networking discussions, but none seemed to address the problems I have experienced.
Any suggestions? ”
My suggestion is AP based. Both machines have to be “allowed” on the AP if you have set up MAC address filtering. If not let us know and we will look further for you, there are persons here quite a bit more knowledgeable than your first contact on MS. JP.

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Also, make sure any third party firewalls are disabled.

Jerry

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After more research, I could not find a solution at all. All MS recommendations which possibly could apply to the issue would not work at all or would not describe the issue accurately. I then did the following: I left the homegroup on my desktop PC (W 7), and then created a new homegroup on the laptop (W 8). This works fine and both pcs are now in the homegroup which also shows up in Windows Explorer resp. File Explorer (W 8).

However, I still believe that there is a better solution to the issue resp. it should work from the beginning to join a homegroup when it offers it: “Join available”, and not then say the homegroup is not available when it is.

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It is possible that Win 8 PC could not connect with the Win 7 Homegroup, but when you set a Homegroup up Win 8, then the connection worked. I have since moved to Workgroup which worked well for all 3 PCs, 2 with Win 8 and a desktop with Win 7. I set the Homegroup up with my Win 8 laptop, then added my wife’s laptop to that Homegroup, then added the Win 7 Desktop to the Homegroup and all worked very well.

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I also searched here for networking discussions, but none seemed to address the problems I have experienced.
Any suggestions?

My dirt cheap and dirty answer to networking problems if you arent able to do it yourself and arent willing to pay me to fix it ;-}) is to set up the same user name on both computers with the same password assuming this is not in a company but at home or in a small company willing to do that. Then, you go through the network icon from both computers (eg, do it one way then do it back the other to be sure) and try to access a setup share you have already allowed (dirty but not so good idea is to share C drive if you are trying to diagnose a problem but remember to remove that afterwards and share only what you want shared). Dont use Win7/8 homegroups, just do it advanced. Make sure the Workgroup name is the same (hold down the windows key and tap the pause key) on both computers.

Now, with the same user with the same password on both machines you should be able to set it up dirty and easy. There are some problems a lot of people will point out with security right about now and it is a valid point but this is the dirty way to prove it either works or there is a problem with the NIC or possibly something silly like you are connected via a cable to the modem and wirelessly with the other computer to a wireless router separate from the modem and both are on different network addresses…. that sort of old bean. If it works as I have explained then you can do all the tidying up afterwards. If it doesnt then:

1) Check your workgroup name is the same on both computers down to the upper or lowercase needed. They wont make amorous googly eyes at each other without the same workgroup name.
2) Check your IP addressing is in the same range. Eg, open a CMD window and type IPCONFIG and hit enter on each machine. If one is on 10.0.0.x and the other is on 192.168.0.x then you have a problem right there. In fact one machine may have manually configured IP addressing and you forgot?
3) When checking the IP addressing, even if you are using DHCP for all and it is only the one unit giving out IP addresses, check if there is, somehow an IP address set for either machine, or both, for the gateway. This may be stuffing things up if present. If it is present, go to manual and get rid of it and back to auto and save it to clear it. If you are manually assigning and the gateway is missing or different on either or both machines you can have a problem again.
4) Lastly, you could well have a problem in registry for your networking. You can start with doing a netsh winsock reset catalog and also an ipconfig flushdns but 7 times out of 10 that wont fix the problem. I do them first anyway as sometimes it IS one of the 3 in 10 chances. If they dont work, as expected, then you need to find and download the registry network reset commands for your Windows or, if the machine was working right recently and now doesnt, try a system restore back to when it worked, first. 8 times out of 10 that saves you a lot of pf’ing about.

All in all, you need to use advanced networking setup and steer clear of the wizards on this one with Win 7 and 8. I found the wizards werent as helpful as the XP one used to be and doing it manually takes about a 10th of the time.

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