Windows 10: "New" laptop doesn't see homegroup

Both were set to Manual, no Status showing. I r-clicked and clicked Start for both and both now say Running. Should they be set to Automatic?

It still doesn't see the Homegroup...

 

Yes, you may set them to Auto.
Some more services to check (and start and set to auto if needed):
HomeGroup Provider
HomeGroup Listener

If nothing works, reset your router: Press on the small recessed button in the back for 10 sec. (you might need a paperclip).

Restart your machine.

And call it a day

 

I set all of those Services are now set to Auto and it still doesn't see the Homegroup.

I pushed the router's reset and now I have no Wi-Fi. The wired part of the network still works but none of the wireless ones can see the network. And I can't connect to the router's webpage. The router is a D-Link DR-615 and I have been contemplating replacing it; I may have to replace it sooner now.

And I plugged an ethernet cable into the 5720 and it still can't see the Homegroup.

 

I would be very surprised that pressing reset would have killed the radio.

So I guess you mean you don't see your expected connection when r-clicking on the wireless icon in the notification area. Or you see it but cannot connect?

Resetting could have disabled WiFi on this router. And maybe some other settings aren't anymore to your like.

Open the router Home Page in your browser (the default IP address is 192.168.0.1, username is admin and leave password blank).

In Setup (top) go to Wireless Settings (on the left).

Check the box to enable the wireless function, and Visibility Status.

At the same time, change the SSID if it's dlink (default) for better security.

Select the Manual Wireless Connection Setup Button.

Security Mode: WPA-Personal.
WPA Mode: WPA2 Only or Auto if you have wireless clients using both WPA and WPA2.
Cypher Type: AES or TKIP and AES If you have wireless clients that use both types.
Pre-Shared Key: must be between 8-63 characters. The wider the character set is (1) and the longer the key is (2), the more secure. Save it in some text file to be able to cut&paste it.

Save Settings.

For better security, you should also set a password (for admin) to access the router, then save your configuration:
Tools tab, System (left), Save and Reboot buttons.
Rebooting will take about 1 min.

Restart your computer(s).

As for the Homegroup saga, I can only suggest to forget about this new MS "feature" so poorly documented and go an old and better mastered way: The workgroup.

 

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I have been exploring & testing a bunch of stuff with several different computers and things are becoming more & more convoluted.

I had just realized that the unsecured D-Link transmitter that the wireless devices all found was this router (confirmed when it disappeared when I unplugged the power from the router) when I received the email about your latest post. Thank you very much for those instructions. In addition to the settings you suggested I also added the appropriate passwords. Our son (who used to do all this stuff for us until he died last year) had, for some reason, changed the router's address, which is why I couldn't connect to its page with the bookmark so I reset it to what he had used.

I had to re-connect all of the wireless devices but they all connect to the Wi-Fi now. But only the 5720Z and the Acer Switch tablet (the 2 most recently added) show up in Network. There should be both of those plus the Stream8 tablet, Lenovo M58P desktop and Acer M1200 desktop and WD MyCloud network drive.
Yes, I did refresh and I did check on every computer and all of them show just those 2 except for the 5720Z that doesn't show any computers but does see most of them as Media Devices.
They all connect to shares on the MyCloud via shortcuts.

And then I discovered that Homegroup can't access the M1200 from the M58P so I checked the M1200 and found that it has installed the Creators Update. In looking around to see what was going on I discovered that, even though it was the one I started the Homegroup on, it was no longer signed into the Homegroup.
I also noticed that the Settings screen on the M1200 had changed with the update with Apps & Gaming now in their own sections. I didn't mention this before but the 5720Z only had Win10 installed a few days before I started this thread and its Settings screen looks the same - maybe it installed with the Creators Update included?

On the 5720Z I went into Device Manager to see what its Wi-Fi adapter was so I could look up what its protocol is (B & G)(shouldn't be an issue because once I have it set up it is going to be plugged into a cable anyway) and update its driver. While there I noticed that there are two Base System Devices that are not running because there are no drivers for Win 10 and tried unsuccessfully to figure out what they were and install drivers. I suspect that they are involved with the card reader that is never used so I won't worry about them

We also have an Access Point in another part of the house. The Stream8 has always connected to the network through either the Access Point or the router but I had been unable to get either the Switch or the 5720Z to connect to the AP. Now I can't get the Stream8 to connect to it either. I can access its webpage from the M58P and everything looks normal but all 3 of the Wi-Fi devices I have tried say that they can't connect to it. I noticed that it is only B & G so I am not terribly concerned about connecting through it. I think I may invest in a newer, better router in the near future anyway.

And, of course, the 5720Z still doesn't see the Homegroup. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Creators Update?

While researching the original problem of a new computer not finding the existing Homegroup I found that some people had solved that by deleting the existing Homegroup and starting a new one from a different computer. At this point I am contemplating doing that. But if I have to start over and a Workgroup will be better I am open to trying that instead. The main thing is being able to access the desktops of the other computers on the network.

 

And after all that I decided to reboot the M1200 and the M58P and now everything that should show in Network does, including the Stream8 that I didn't reboot. On all of the computers.

And, of course, the 5720Z still doesn't see the Homegroup.

Oh, and the TV isn't connecting to the network either but I expect I just have to log back in on it.

 

Just look at all the posts on issues with Creators Update...

Indeed, and apparently it works better when you create it from the problem computer, the 5720Z in your case. This might be a quicker solution if it works.

But you have to solve your connections issues first. You didn't mention you had an access point. I assume it's wired to your router.
You have to find out a few pieces of info. Ensure your AP is connected to a LAN port.

I hope you know what is your AP IP address.
It should be a static address within the router DHCP range. And that's maybe why the router IP was changed. Do you remember what is was?

You should also know the AP MAC address.
You might find both on a sticker on the AP. If you don't you're in for a rougher ride.

So let's wait for your answer.

 

You have to configure both your AP and your router. Both should have IPs on the same network, but the AP's must be static. I don't think your router will accept an address outside the DHCP range, so you'll have to reserve one within.

Since you said you set the router's address back, the AP should be visible to it (but it's address has sinced changed).

Connect the AP and some computer to the router's LAN ports.
Open a command prompt window. Type IPCONFIG and use the Default Gateway address to browse to your router's configuration page.
Go to Setup (Top) / Network Settings (Left)
Verify that your computer and the AP appear in the Number of Dynamic DHCP Clients table.

If they don't, stop right there and tell me.

Click on Reserve at the end of the line showing your AP in the table. Verify an address reservation has effectively been made for it.

In the router configuration tab, click on Save Settings.

Browse (in a new tab) to the AP configuration page using the IP address you've just reserved (You said that you knew the credentials). Make a note of:
The 802.11 Mode option (N, G, B)
The SSID
The channel number if not set to auto.
Since I don't know your AP, you'll have to find out where to go by yourself.

In the router configuration browser tab, go to Setup (top) / Wireless Settings (left).

Check that the 802.11 Mode option is the same as/compatible with your AP's.

Enable Auto Channel Scan: No on both devices.

Wireless channel: Ensure channel separation by using a different one for the router and the AP. 6 for the router and 1 or 11 for the AP are common in NorthAm. If you live in a WiFi crowded neighbourhood, you should ideally use some site-survey software to select the less crowded, or showing the weaker signals, channels.

Wireless Network Name: Using the same SSID is better for seamless roaming, but most wireless clients tend to stick with the first AP they find. Your security settings should then be the same on both devices.
With different SSIDs you can select the one you want to connect to. Moreover you should see both the AP and your wireless router in the list of available connections.
Even if you don't have to here, I'd suggest to keep the same security settings on both devices.

Wireless Security Settings: Security mode and passphrase must be set on both devices.

Do not forget to save settings before leaving a page.

Before leaving, ensure that you've changed the password from the default to access each device, and save the configuration in a file (Tools / System).

Save and reboot (Tools / System / Reboot).

Restart every device wired to the router and the AP.
Check the configurations by browsing to them (You'll have to enter the credentials again).
Try connecting wirelessly to the AP using the SSID and passphrase you set.

Since Canadians are known to be good with apologies *Smile, I hope you'll accept mines for creating such a mess by telling you to reset instead of reboot your router. I guess drinking and browsing don't go well together.*Devil

Et voila, you're now ready to buy a new router and do it all over again (except for the AP part)....

Let's hope the homegroup is now fully functional. Who knows?

P.S. Don't throw away the D-Link. You can always use it as backup or as an AP, a range extender or a switch.

 

This morning I deleted the Homegroup. It took me a while to figure out how and most of the info came from
Cannont Delete or Modify Homegroup in Windows 10 - Microsoft Community
For future readers of this thread:
On ALL computers go to Control Panel>HomeGroup, click Leave the homegroup and follow the instructions. Turn off all but the one that the Homegroup was started on (VERY IMPORTANT: ALL OF THEM), then go to
C\Windows\ServicesProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\PeerNetworking and delete all idstore files, then restart it and confirm that the Homegroup is gone.
In theory you shouldn't need to check but I did and the Homegroup was still there. After I tried again I noticed that someone else turned a computer on, which prevented it from working. After that one was turned off it worked perfectly.

Next I tried starting a new Homegroup on a different computer but the 5720Z didn't see that one either so I deleted it and turned that computer off.

Finally I started a new Homegroup on the 5720Z which all of the other computers have all joined successfully.

As for the AP:
I can still access it from the bookmark so I have the IP address and the MAC address, which is good because I can't physically access it to read any stickers it might have without moving a lot of stuff. Its webpage looks very generic to me; I can't find anything there to say what model it is or who made it.

Is it OK if I just open the router's webpage from the bookmark? All of the computers are in the list plus teh network drive and a couple that don't have names (I suspect that one is the TV). None of the addresses match the AP so I am stopping right here and telling you.

 

BTW: No need to apologize. I have learned a bunch of stuff that will help me in the future and it was worthwhile knowing that the router wasn't the problem.

 

I was referring to an old show on This Hour Has 22 Minutes titled Canadians are always apologizing! *Smile Thank you.

Glad the Homegroup issue was solved.

Please give me:
The AP's IP from your bookmark
The router's IP and the DHCP range

Open a command prompt window and type:
PING xxx.xxx.x.xxx where x 's represent your AP address
TRACERT xxx.xxx.x.xxx

PING xxx.xxx.x.xxx >C:\Ping.txt
TRACERT xxx.xxx.x.xxx >C:\Trace.txt

And post the two above text files.

More trouble: I just remembered I had saved an article (see
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/B...Routers-126213) in which your router is mentioned.
You must:
Change your password from the default (I hope that's done) and check that remote administration is disabled.
Save the configuration.

Then when you'll have time:
Update the router's firmware if you don't run the latest version.
(Tools / Firmware / Check Online Now for Latest... )
Heed the warning and plug your router into a UPS if you can.
Download the file with your browser
Upload: Browse to where you DL'd the file
Click on Upload button

 

Ahh... Colin Mochrie...
Colin Mochrie apology - YouTube

AP's IP: 192.168.1.11

Router IP: 192.168.1.1

DCHP Range: 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.199

When I tried PING xxx.xxx.x.xxx >C:\Ping.txt and TRACERT xxx.xxx.x.xxx >C:\Trace.txt it said "Access is Denied."

Is this OK? I copied & pasted from the CMD window...

Pinging 192.168.1.11 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.11:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Tracing route to 192.168.1.11 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.11

Trace complete.

Re router settings: Yes, the password is changed and yes enable remote admin is unchecked.

I think I'll wait a few days and see if I replace the router before I update its firmware.

Thanks again for all this help.

 

The AP's IP is outside of the DHCP range so it will never appear in the router's tables. That was the old way to do things before reservations were introduced. I don't see any problem with that, since the router will never change the AP IP address.

So skip the reservation altogether an proceed as follows:

And your Homegroup will be fully functional. *Biggrin

Please don't forget to mark the thread as solved when you'll have exhausted all your questions on the topic.

Thank you and good luck.

 

OK, I finally have time to get back to this.

The AP says its Mode is AP. Other options are 2 kinds of station, 3 kinds of AP bridge and Universal Repeater.
Its Band is set to 2.4 Ghz (B+G). Other options are 2.4 Ghz (b) and 2.4 Ghz (G). (Don't you love it when they use the same term for something else?

ESSID is our network name followed by AP

Router 's mode is set to Mixed 802.11n, 802.11g and 802.11b

Enable Auto Chanel Scan is now turned off in router I can't find that setting in the AP. The AP was set to Chanel 11 and the router to Chanel 6 so I left them alone.

We have always seen both the router and the AP in available connections list so I left them with the names they have always had.

Security: AP says WPA pre shared key, cipher WPA(TKIP). Router says WPA-Personal, cipher TKIP and AES. Pre-Shared Keys match. Should the ciphers be set the same?

I will now reboot everything. I will let you know if I can connect to the AP soon.

 

Since you have distinct SSIDs, you don't have to keep the same security settings.

If you have issues connecting, unplug your router from the internet modem (to be safe) and disable security on the device (AP or router). If you can then connect, the problem is in your security settings. For example, some devices weren't WPA2 capable.