Homegroups Sharing

Let's suppose there are two PCs in your house. Setting up a homegroup is incredibly easy-especially compared to the complications of setting up "real" file sharing, as described later in this tutorial. In fact, it's as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

1. On the first PC, open the HomeGroup program.
   It doesn't matter which PC you start with, as long as it's running Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate. (Other versions can join your homegroup-just can't create one.)
   The quickest way is to open the Start menu, then start typing homegroup until you see "HomeGroup" in the results list; click it.
2. Click "Create a homegroup."
   Now the middle dialog box appears.
3. Turn on the checkboxes for the stuff you want to share.
   Windows proposes making your Photos, Music, and Videos libraries available for the other PCs in your house to use. If you like, you can also turn on the Documents library. (Microsoft starts out with that one turned off in case you keep private stuff in there.) And you can share whatever printer is connected to your PC-an inkjet, for example.
4. Click Next.
   Now Windows displays a ridiculously unmemorable password, like E6fQ9UX3uR. Fortunately, you'll never have to memorize it.
5. Walk over to the second PC. Open the HomeGroup program on this one.
   This time, the wording of the dialog box is slightly different. It sees the first PC already on the network, already with a homegroup initiative under way.
6. Click "Join now." On the next screen, choose which folders you'd like to share. Click Next.
   Now you're invited to type that password into this PC's box.
7. Type the password from step 4. Click Next, and then Finish.
   If you have a third PC, or a fourth or a fifth, repeat steps 5-7. If you buy another PC a year from now, repeat steps 5-7.

And that's all there is to it. Your computers are now joined in blissful network harmony.

Note: Only your stuff is shared at the outset-only your pictures, music, video, and documents. Other account holders have to turn on sharing for their own stuff; Microsoft didn't think they'd appreciate having all their stuff shared on the network unawares.

Suppose you're one of the other family members. Log in and open the HomeGroup program. A message says "[Name of other person] has joined your computer to a homegroup. You haven't shared any libraries."

How to Use Your Homegroup

Once a homegroup is set up, using it is a piece of cake.

• Root through other people's libraries. On PC #2, click Homegroup at the left side of any Explorer window. Voila! There are the icons for every PC-in fact, every account on every PC.
  And if you open one of them, you can see the pictures, music, videos, documents, and whatever else they've made available for sharing. (You can click the HomeGroup heading and see icons for each account holder/PC, or you can open the flippy triangles in the Navigation pane.)
• Share each other's printers. When you go to print, you'll see that all the printers in the house are now available to all the PCs in the house. For example, if there's a color inkjet plugged into the USB jack of Computer #1, you can send printouts to it from the Print dialog box of Computer #2. (The other computers' shared printers even have their own icons in the Devices and Printers folder.
  Note: If the printer is a relatively recent, brand-name model, it should "just work"; Windows installs the printer automatically. If not, the HomeGroup feature notifies you that a printer is available, but you have to click Install to OK the driver installation.
• Play each other's music and video. When you're in Windows Media Player or Media Center, same thing: You'll see the names of all the other computers listed for your browsing pleasure, and inside, all their music, photos, and videos, ready to play. (The other machines are listed in the Navigation pane at left, in a category called "Other libraries.")

Tip: For quicker access to your homegroup, list it in your Start menu. To do that, right-click the Start button; from the shortcut menu, choose Properties. Click Customize; in the long scrolling list, turn on Homegroup, and then click OK twice. Now Homegroup appears in the right side of the shortcut Start menu.