Well, I forgot my homegroup password that I set up last July, and now I can't find the paper that I wrote it down on. I'm trying to get a new computer to join the homegroup , but of course, I need the original password on the main computer in order for the new computer to join it. Is there a way I can find out what the original password is, or how would I go about creating a new password? All the info I find on the net says to go to control panel, Network settings, Homegroup, and click on "Change Password". Well, of course, that is not in my control panel. So, is there a way out of the mess I'm in? I'd like to be able to share files with the new computer I have. That new computer is running Windows 7 (need that OS for a particular program I have to run). Any networking wizards out there?
I did it before but can't remember how, just create another homegroup with password, put password on other computer.
In system tray, right click on Network Icon, open network and sharing center, bottom left click on homegroup
seen similar.. had to do windows repair portable in safemode then after reboot if still not working, reupgrade with mediacreationtool.
Well, after several more hours of doing 'net searches, and following obscure threads about all sorts of homegroup problems, I finally stumbled upon the solution that worked, at least for me. It seems that my problem wasn't that I had forgotten the homegroup password, but that one wasn't even set yet. BIG surprise, because when the new computer on my private net wanted to connect with this main computer, it said that there was a homegroup, and asked for the password. Well, again, this seems to be a well known (to other people, and now to me) problem. The issue is that for some reason that NO ONE can explain, MS has set things up so that when the OS is upgraded, or updated, or whatever, there are remains of 'Ghost' homegroups. Believe it or not, when any computer on the network is on, it tries to connect to one of the 'ghost' homegroups, and the result is always failure, for obvious reasons... there is no valid homegroup in place. Weird, huh? I thought so too, but it is all proved out by my experience this evening. It seems the 'fix' for this situation is to shut down all computers on the local network, even the main computer. Then re-start the main computer, go to the Control Panel\Network\Homegroup and then all the sudden, there are options galore that weren't there earlier when I made the OP in this thread! And what do you know, amongst those options is one to Create A Homegroup... Along with leave the homegroup, change password, change what is shared, and a few others. So, of course that was the answer to all my problems. I created a homegroup, Win10 generated a password for it, and things were all roses! I turned on the other computers on the network, one by one, and joined the homegroup using the newly generated password, and everything went just fine. All systems see each other, share files and printers, and happily go out for drinks until the dark hours of the night. Actually, after a evening/night like this one, that sounds like a good idea... (replace coffee with drink of choice) Hopefully this will help someone in the future! Thank you to all contributors in this thread!!!!!