Solving Windows 7 networking problems
By Fred Langa
<http://WindowsSecrets.com/paid/100225/>

Summary: Win7-to-Win7 networking may be easy, but connecting your new Win7 system to older PCs with previous versions of Windows or non-Windows systems can sometimes be a real headache.

Firewalls and Win7's HomeGroups are usually the primary culprits, but the following step-by-step tips should help solve your networking troubles with minimal hassle.


Win7 can't see his network shares

Reader Bob Johnston is setting up a mixed-bag local network — Win7, XP, Linux, and some network-attached storage (NAS) devices — but is running into a fairly common snag.
  • "I am embarrassed to admit that I am having a problem with Win7 Pro that I cannot resolve. My background is Win XP (expert level) with a brief exposure to Vista while awaiting Win7. Since installing Win7, I have not been able to access my NAS drives. They are fully operational from my other XP and Linux work stations.

    "I can access the drives via HTTP from Win7, but it refuses under all circumstances to see these drives as standard network drives. I have searched and searched, and all of the recommendations have proved futile. Surely there is some simple remedy!"
When Win7 systems won't network well to older devices, your first order of business is to check on third-party firewalls. I've done several dozen Win7 setups so far, and in most of the cases where networking was a problem, a third-party firewall was the culprit.

Win7's HomeGroup feature accounts for nearly all of the other network problems I've seen. (I'll come back to HomeGroups in a moment.) But in your case, Bob, I do suspect it's a firewall problem. You can connect by some network protocols (e.g., HTTP) but not others. That means the basic connectivity is there, but full access is being blocked — probably by a closed port, bad "rule," or some other firewall issue.

Try this:
  • Step 1. Make your network safe from outside attack by disconnecting your LAN from the external world (i.e., unplug the data cable that feeds your cable-box/DSL/modem/whatever). Your machines are now connected only to each other, locally.

  • Step 2. It's now safe to remove or disable the firewalls on all your systems and devices. With no firewalls running, you should be able to get your network fully up and running. Don't set up or enable a HomeGroup on the Win7 box(es) yet — just concentrate on getting the basic networking going.

    If there's still trouble, see the list of resources later in this article for information on deeper troubleshooting. But with the firewalls gone, odds are you'll now be able to get everything working as it should.

  • Step 3. Once you have all the connections working, you can re-enable your firewalls. Do one machine at a time. As each firewall goes active, it should then see and allow (or ask you to allow) the new connections.

    Windows 7's built-in firewall knows how to handle HomeGroups and is also fairly transparent to standard Windows LANs. So if a third-party firewall proves to be an obstacle, consider using Windows' own firewall — at least on the Win7 box.

  • Step 4. Reconnect to the outside world (i.e., restore your Internet access). I'll bet you now have full connectivity.

As mentioned above, when firewalls aren't the cause of Win7 networking trouble, I've usually found a HomeGroup to be the problem. Win7's HomeGroup feature is aimed at casual users and is a mostly-automatic way to set up network shares (files, folders, devices, etc.). But HomeGroup — and related security elements of Win7 networking such as 128-bit encryption for shared files — introduces new and added complexity into your local networking mix.

Bob, you already set up and configured a heterogeneous LAN, so you already know how to do network shares. I suggest you avoid using a homegroup. Just do your network shares yourself, the normal way. That's what I do on my mixed Win7/Vista/XP/Linux LAN.

Still stuck? Here are some resources (moving from the general to the specific) that should get you going.

Microsoft info:
  • HomeGroups, explained on Microsoft's "Win7 Features" page
  • "Networking the easy way in Windows 7" page
  • Win7 "File-sharing essentials" page
  • Microsoft's answer to the question, "What is the difference between a domain, a workgroup, and a HomeGroup?"
  • From the Answers forum, a discussion of solutions to the problems of connecting Win7 to older Windows versions.
Excellent third-party how-tos and more:
  • RDweb.com's "The HomeGroup Feature: How it Works" article
  • Neowin.net's "Windows 7: HomeGroup Overview" article
  • HowToGeek.com how-to, "Share Files and Printers between Windows 7 and XP"
  • Cnet.com's article, "Windows 7 and XP networking made easy"
  • InformIT.com's "How to Network Windows 7, Vista, and XP Computers" article
  • Windows7Forums.com's discussion, "Windows networking fixed!!(w7 to xp)"
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