Solved Can't create a homegroup on this computer

richierein

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Location
West Palm Beach, Florida
Hello, I have two Windows 8 computers. On one of them (which says "private network"), I easily created a homegroup. On the other (which also says "private network"), I am unable to join the homegroup. Whenever I connect to the network, it searches and says "There is no homegroup on this network" and displays "Create Homegroup" in the Network and Sharing Center. However, when I attempt to create the homegroup, it says "Can't create a homegroup on this computer". If I leave the homegroup on the working computer, it still says "Create Homegroup" in the Network and Sharing Center and I am still unable to create the homegroup. Microsoft has worked on this for five hours and is unable to find a solution. Can you offer some suggestions?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1720
    CPU
    Intel Core Duo T5250
    Motherboard
    Dell Inc. 0UK437
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
    Hard Drives
    One 320gb Toshiba
    Three 3tb Seagate disc drives
    Mouse
    Logitech M305
    Internet Speed
    2gb/s
    Browser
    IE11, Chrome, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton 360

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Nothing changed

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for your prompt reply. I checked every setting for both links. I still get "Can't create a homegroup with this computer" after the sharing section even when I leave the homegroup on the other computer. A Microsoft's Level 2 engineer worked on this for five hours today and did not find a solution. They will be calling back tomorrow morning.

Richard Rein
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1720
    CPU
    Intel Core Duo T5250
    Motherboard
    Dell Inc. 0UK437
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
    Hard Drives
    One 320gb Toshiba
    Three 3tb Seagate disc drives
    Mouse
    Logitech M305
    Internet Speed
    2gb/s
    Browser
    IE11, Chrome, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
Hello, I have two Windows 8 computers. On one of them (which says "private network"), I easily created a homegroup. On the other (which also says "private network"), I am unable to join the homegroup. Whenever I connect to the network, it searches and says "There is no homegroup on this network" and displays "Create Homegroup" in the Network and Sharing Center. However, when I attempt to create the homegroup, it says "Can't create a homegroup on this computer". If I leave the homegroup on the working computer, it still says "Create Homegroup" in the Network and Sharing Center and I am still unable to create the homegroup. Microsoft has worked on this for five hours and is unable to find a solution. Can you offer some suggestions?

You might try deleting the old Homegroup files in the peer networking folder, these files can prevent machines from joining, leaving or creating a Homegroup, it's required that you delete these files from all Homegroup machines. This seems to be more of a problem with wireless machines.

Delete the files below the black line as per the picture, it might be required to delete all files in this folder. Restart both machines after deleting the files and then try to create a Homegroup.

The path is at the top of the page in the picture. :)

Other Homegroup problems can be fixed by going through the Homegroup trouble shooting list.
Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide for Windows 7 HomeGroup Connection Issues - Help Desk Geek

It's important to remember that just about any type of third party anti virus software can prevent Homegroups for working correctly.

Msoft even mentions deleting the Idstore.sst file in the peer networking folder but deleting just the Idstore.sst files isn't enough to fix the problem, you must delete the other files mentioned in the peer networking folder in order to fix the problem.

Why can't I join a homegroup?

Microsoft also has some other fix it pages for this problem.
Why can't I create a homegroup?
 

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    Peer Networking Delete white pages to fix Homegroup 1.jpg
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Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
Microsoft suggested that the problem may be that I am using a dual boot on my C: drive. I extended the Windows 8 partition, re-formatted the drive and did a clean install of Windows 8 and Voila!, when I started the system it had joined my already created homegroup. It appears that a dual boot system was the problem. Thank you all for your suggestions and assistance. Problem solved for Windows 8. The Windows 7 partition had no problem joining the homegroup.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 1720
    CPU
    Intel Core Duo T5250
    Motherboard
    Dell Inc. 0UK437
    Memory
    4gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
    Hard Drives
    One 320gb Toshiba
    Three 3tb Seagate disc drives
    Mouse
    Logitech M305
    Internet Speed
    2gb/s
    Browser
    IE11, Chrome, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
Odd. I would not think a dual boot would cause that. At least it hasn't yet for me. :confused:

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted though. Thank you for posting back with your results.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Dual boot shouldn't do that but my experience with Windows 8 and dual booting is equally bad, lesson learned never again, Windows 8 is simply TERRIBLE for dual booting.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
I've been struggling with a similar issue and have discovered two related problems that can keep one from creating or joining a homegroup. You can have only one network on the machine in question. On one of my computers I had installed VMBox from Oracle which creates a VPN network. Since I rarely use VMWare, i just disabled it and everything started working re: homegroups. The other computer actually has two ethernet connectors in back and I was using both in the hope of getting faster downloads. Nothing worked to create or join a homegroup until I disabled one. I hope this helps somebody. It actually does mention this in the troubleshooter. paj692
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
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