How to Join a HomeGroup on a Windows 7 Home Network

By Lawrence C. Miller, CISSP from Home Networking Do-It-Yourself For Dummies

Any computer on your home network that is running any version of Windows 7 can join a homegroup. Remember that a Windows 7 homegroup allows you to share documents, music, pictures, videos, and printers with other Windows 7 computers on your home network.

Only computers running Windows 7 can join a homegroup. There is no backwards compatibility with Windows XP or Vista, and Mac OS and Linux users can’t join the party either!

Enlarge 1 Open the Windows Control Panel, and then click Network and Internet. The Network and Internet window appears.	Enlarge 2 Under HomeGroup, click Choose homegroup and sharing Options. The HomeGroup window appears.	Enlarge 3 Click Join Now. The Join a homegroup dialog box appears.
Enlarge 4 Select the items you would like to share with your homegroup. Click Next. You can select one or more of the following check boxes: Pictures, Music, Videos, Documents, or Printers.	Enlarge 5 Enter the password for the homegroup. Click Next. If you don’t know the homegroup password, go to another computer that is already a member of the homegroup and from the Control Panel, click Network and Internet, then click HomeGroup, and then click View or Print the HomeGroup Password.