Windows 7 Homegroup connection wizard hangs while trying to share libraries

[TrippedUp]

This issue seems a little weird.

I have a desktop and a laptop at home running windows 7.
They can both see each other, and share files freely, over the network.
When I start a homegroup on the desktop, the wizard stops at the Caution symbol screen where it declares it's "currently sharing libraries on this computer. ...Please don't shut down or restart your computer until sharing completes."

My laptop can see the homegroup immediately, and can join successfully once I put in the password (passing by the Caution screen). At this point, the desktop can see the laptop under "Homegroup" in the libraries, and has no problem accessing its files.

However, the laptop cannot see the desktop in libraries, and small wonder since the desktop seems permanently stuck on the Caution screen before sharing completes.

Any idea what could be preventing the desktop from completing sharing?

I have ticked off all the boxes for sharing.
I tried turning off McCafee's firewall, it had no immediate effect.
I have ran the troubleshooter without it being able to detect any problems with the homegroup or my network.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike]

Welcome to the forums,

I have not seen this one, but you can access any shares on the target system temporarily using this method:

Start -> Search -> \\target_system\$c\[insert path here]

You will want to enter \\TARGET_SYSTEM\Username as the username and that users password to get into this location

Example:

Login: \\DESKTOP5\Bob
Password: 615G5Mjb

Obviously this isn't the most convenient way of going about things. I have stayed away from HomeGroups until very recently, until I learned of the library benefit, which can have its uses.

Most peculiar is that I have recently tied 5 computers to a homegroup without any problems, and shared out a printer to all of them. In fact, to test your problem, I used a virtual PC to connect into the same homegroup and found no problems. I found your post difficult to follow because at first you say

They can both see each other, and share files freely, over the network.

, but then have a contradictory message saying you are stuck always sharing files and that the laptop can't see the desktop.

It sounds like you may want to try the obvious step of removing all systems from the homegroup thereby eliminating it and re-creating the homegroup on the system that will be accessed the most. This could be the desktop again. Was there ever a point where HomeGroups were working for you? If so, you may want to perform a System Restore to that point.

If you have a custom firewall, especially something like McAfee, this could be wreaking all sorts of havoc on your ability to use this feature. This is just a guess, but oft-advertised firewall and anti-virus products spend a lot of time jamming up core Windows features, using up an abundance of resources, and turning the registry to moosh. This has just been an observation from over the years I am a strict advocate of running only ESET Smart Security on my systems with the occasional Malwarebytes scan. This could definitely be an issue to look into. Even when the firewall is disabled it is still acting as a buffer between client A and client B. You may want to consider using Windows firewall, which should be sufficient for so long as you are running a hardware firewall on your router and taking proper precautions with Wide Area Network (WAN) access to your systems.

Still, I contend that your best option will be to rebuild the homegroup all together. You would do this by pulling the laptop off and then the desktop. If this doesn't work, I would suggest trying to run the feature without any McAfee products installed and see what the result is. If the result is the same, you can always reinstall the software.