Can't connect to homegroup

I just purchased a new laptop with windows 8.1. I previously had two laptops and a desktop all running windows 7 and all connected to my network wirelessly. I had a homegroup set up on the desktop that works fine for all windows 7 machines, but I cannot get the new 8.1 machine to connect to it. The new machine sees that the homegroup is there but after I put in the password it says it no longer can find the homegroup.
I tried to run the homegroup troubleshooter and got a vague response about network problems, but no problems were detected by the network troubleshooter. I've also tried creating a local user instead of logging in with a Microsoft account but got the same message when I tried to connect. I'd really appreciate any help and suggestions. Thanks!

Hello MeKing, and welcome to Eight Forums.

For now, double check through the information and requirements in the tutorial below to see if it may be able to help in case it may just be something overlooked.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15831-homegroup-join-windows-8-a.html

Usually, you may need to have all computers leave the homegroup, create the homegroup, and join the computers again.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

You might check the basic Homegroup trouble shooter to make sure the basics are in order.
Ultimate Troubleshooting Guide for Windows 7 HomeGroup Connection Issues

Sometimes the solution below works to fix this problem. In most cases leaving the Homegroup is the problem this fixes but it also works for joining the Homegroup issues.

Open Windows explorer and navigate to the following file.

C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\PeerNetworking and delete all of the files in this folder. Now restart the computer and see if you can join the Homegroup. You will need to enable the "show hidden folders" setting in folder options in order to see the AppData folder.

I've had this same exact problem where the machine see's the Homegroup but when you try to join it says it can no longer find the Homegroup.

In my case the problem was confined to a single Windows 7 machine using an Intel G41 chipset and it happened using a wired or wireless connection and it didn't matter where it was located in my network. Drove me crazy until I realized there is an easy work around.

The work around was to leave the original Homegroup on all machines then create a new one on the machine having the problem. Then rejoin the new Homegroup on all machines.

I ran into that issue when I was using Home Group on Windows 7. I finally decided to just go back to turning it off and using normal Network shares. I have found that certain Internet Security suites are causing some issues with Home Group. Others is a couple of Windows Updates over time, have caused problems with Home Group deciding not to work at its own whim.

It does make it easier to share Libraries & printers. Especially if you want to only share between certain computers on a large LAN. But personally in my mind, for home use, it is easier to just use normal network sharing in most cases.