How to Join a HomeGroup in Windows 8
If you ever wanted to share your music or pictures, HomeGroup in Windows 8 may be your answer. HomeGroup is a new functionality of Windows 8 that makes it simple to share music, pictures, and documents in your small office or home network among Windows 8 PCs. HomeGroup also enables you to share printers connected via USB. If a printer is installed on a Windows 8 computer and shared by HomeGroup, it is automatically installed onto the other HomeGroup-enabled Windows 8 PCs. This applies to domain-joined computers also, as they can be part of a HomeGroup as well.
Create a new HomeGroup or join an existing one is the first step in the using HomeGroup for sharing. If the Windows 8 Network Discovery feature is not enabled, you will be asked to create a HomeGroup. In the Network And Sharing Center, select Choose HomeGroup And Sharing Options. Click Create A HomeGroup button With Windows 8 Network Discovery turned on (default), HomeGroup is created automatically. You still need to join the HomeGroup to utilize other shared resources and to share yours. In the Network And Sharing Center, you can join an existing HomeGroup by clicking the Join Now button.
Partly, the reason for joining a HomeGroup setup is to classify the resources that you want to make available to other members of HomeGroup. Choose what you want to share in the next screen in the setup. Next step requires you to enter the HomeGroup password. By default, Windows 8 will recognize a HomeGroup on the network. However, the other Windows 8 computers will not have access to the resources. It would pose a big security risk if you allow any Windows 8 computer connecting to the network to automatically have access to shared resource. Therefore, a password is required to join HomeGroup in order to protect Windows 8 user resources.
You can find or change the password for the HomeGroup on the computer that created the HomeGroup. After other computers have joined, each computer is able to view or change the password, but first they must join the HomeGroup. The first machine in the HomeGroup will create a random secure password. To view and/or print the HomeGroup password, select Choose HomeGroup And Sharing Options in the Network And Sharing Center and then choose View Or Print The HomeGroup Password. You can do this from any Windows 8 computer that is already a member of the HomeGroup, but not from one that wants to join.
Windows 8 initially creates a random secure password for the HomeGroup. Go to the View And Print Your HomeGroup Password screen to find out what it is. Most likely you would want to change it. To change password, choose the Change The Password option on the Change HomeGroup Settings screen and select Change The Password on the Change Your HomeGroup Password screen.
Should you decide to change the HomeGroup password and if you still want others to share resources, you must go to each of the other Windows 8 computers that are members of the HomeGroup. After setting up the HomeGroup, the other members’ resources are viewable by choosing the HomeGroup option of Windows Explorer or the Start menu. Choose the HomeGroup option from the Start menu or you can choose Computer and select HomeGroup in the Explorer will allow you to access other members of your HomeGroup.
HomeGroups are a great for sharing resources in Windows 8. However, if you do not have Windows 8 computers, the function of sharing resources and setting permissions still works and will allow older operating systems to have access to shared resources on Windows 8 computers. Users running Windows 8 also have access to shared resources on Vista and XP. To connect to other network devices, you must have a correctly configured network protocol. The default network protocol for Windows 8 is TCP/IP.