Windows 7 Problems with Homegroup - I added a switch, now not working

denawayne

New Member
I added a switch to my network because I needed more ports for my DirecTV receivers. Turns out the receivers don't play nice with the switch so I cannot port them to it. I have to port my desktop running windows 7 to the switch. Now I'm finding out that Homegroup isn't working well with the switch. I have a desktop hardwired and a laptop wireless. Laptop running Windows 7, also. Before I added an extra DirecTV receiver, everything was working fine using a 4 port router. Since adding the receiver, I have had to move the desktop connection to a Lynksys 4 port switch. The desktop can access the internet fine but cannot communicate with the laptop. I get "access denied...." message when I try to access the main hard drive on the desktop from the laptop. At first I thought it was a Windows 7 problem until I rewired back to original setup of just using the router. So basically the switch is causing some sort of blockage. Can anybody help?
 
A couple of questions; Are the router and switch the same brand? Do you have the cable coming from the router to the switch in the right port? It's possible that the switch might be bad. Check your firewall and make sure settings allow access to switch.
 
Hi Denawayne,

Just to confirm the switch is ok, can you ping the laptop from the desktop? - start - search for "cmd" then enter in the black box type ping "ipaddressoflaptop" without quotes

If you get a reply then we can assume the switch is doing its job, let me know.
 
denawayne:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
Since you can see the laptop from the desktop well enough to get an access denied error, then I will just assume that the network is working well enough.
So, you mentioned the dreaded HomeGroup word in your original post, I would suggest that perhaps you try to reconstruct the homegroup with the new network configuration that includes the switch. Start from the beginning, use this article
Windows 7 HomeGroup: Walkthrough
begin with the desktop and then add the laptop. I'm just guessing, but I suspect that adding the switch might have broken something under the hood of the HomeGroup feature and you need to reinvent the HomeGroup wheel. Try it and keep us posted.
 
First off, thank you all for helping me out.

Somehow this issue resolved itself. No joke. When I first plugged the desktop into the switch, I was getting a permissions error on my laptop. That's when I got on this forum and posted this topic. I then went to bed, got up and went to work and then when I got home today I tried and was able to access the desktop. Maybe it was a thing where I needed to wait for a certain amount of time. Weird but problem resolved. No complaints here.
 
Aahh yes, they come at night, while you're sleeping. For a while, I was actually convinced that my computer enjoyed riding in the car, since everytime I took it in for repairs, it was fixed by the time I got there.
Anyhow, thanks for updating your thread with the follow up information and thanks again for joining the forum, hope to continue to see you around.
 
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