How to join Homegroup from Windows 10 and share files and printers

Would you like to join a Homegroup from your Windows 10 computer and share files and printers with your other home computers like Windows 7 or Windows 8? Learn how to use Homegroup in Windows 10.

Note: Homegroup option is no longer available on Windows 10 and the below steps are no longer applicable

Homegroup feature in Windows computers help you easily share files and printers between the computers. For example, you can connect your home printer from one of the computers and print from any other computers at home. All these are possible without any hassles using the Homegroup.

Windows 10 supports Homegroup functionality and you can use it to share files between Windows 10 and other supported versions like 7 and 8.

How to join a Homegroup from a Windows 10 computer

Follow the steps below to join a Homegroup from a Windows 10 computer:

1. Click on the Start button on your computer

2. Type "Homegroup" in the search box

3. In the search results, click on "Homegroup" as shown in the screenshot below:

Join Homegroup in Windows 10

There are few results, so make sure you click on the right menu item with the Homegroup icon

4. If you already have a computer hosting a Homegroup, you will see the option to Join the group as shown below:

Windows 10 Homegroup

If you don't have a Homegroup already setup, you will see the option to Create a new Homegroup.

How to join Homegroup

5. Once you click on "Join now" button, you will be guided through a wizard to join the group.

Windows 10 Homegroup

6. In the next step, share the files and devices you want to share and click "Next"

7. In the next step, you will need to enter the password of your Homegroup. If you are joining a Homegroup created on another computer, you will need to obtain the password from the administrator of that computer. The computer name and username will be displayed on the screen so that you can ask the appropriate person for the password.

Join Windows 10 Homegroup

If you are creating a new Homegroup, you will be prompted to create a new password.

Once all computers in your home join the Homegroup, you can easily share your documents and printers easily between Windows 10 and other computers.

Article by Tony John
Tony John is a professional blogger from India, who started his first Weblog in 1998 at Tripod.com. Tony switched to blogging as a passion blended business in the year 2000 and currently operates several popular web properties including IndiaStudyChannel.com, Techulator.com, dotnetspider.com and many more.

Follow Tony John or read 703 articles authored by Tony John

How to create bootable USB to install Windows 10

Minimum hardware requirements for Windows 10

Step by step instructions to install Windows 10

Where to download Windows 10 ISO images

How to report Windows 10 bugs to Microsoft?

How Fedora Linux is better than Windows OS?

How to download Windows 10

My first experience with Windows 10 Technical Preview

How to disable Start menu and switch to Start screen in Windows 10

How to disable the Start screen and switch to Start menu on Windows 10

More articles: Windows Windows 10 Preview Windows 10

Comments

Guest Author: John05 Aug 2015

Okay... this is basic walk-through of the home group screen shots in Windows 10... How do you "FIND" the HomeGroup password!? Windows 10 has removed the option "View or Print HomeGroup password". WHERE do we find the HomeGroup Password?!?

Guest Author: Brian07 Aug 2015

I just upgraded from Win 7to Win 10 on two of my four homegroup computers. I followed the step listed in your post, but cannot join the homegroup with the Win 10 computers. I also cannot delete an existing homegroup or add a new home group. This is a real problem. I have two additional Win 7 PCs on my homegroup that still can file-share. If I can't get a quick fix, I will have to downgrade back to Win 7 on the other two PCs.

Guest Author: Jim07 Aug 2015

How do you "FIND" the HomeGroup password? Windows 10 has removed the option "View or Print HomeGroup password". WHERE do we find the HomeGroup Password?!

Guest Author: marshall10 Aug 2015

When I try to join the existing homegroup with the correct password, nothing happens. The bar keeps running. All was fine under Win 7 but after upgrade to Win 10 my homegroup is broken and I've found no way to join or create a new Homegroup. All computers - 2 desktops and 2 laptops - are on Win10.

Guest Author: David in Melbourne13 Aug 2015

And there is also the problem of not being able to print the home group password (Google indicates that this is a residual problem from Win7...work around is screensave and print)

This is rubbish!

Guest Author: Curtis22 Aug 2015

I'm also experiencing the same issues with trying to find the Homegroup password. My wife is the one who set up the Homegroup and she can't find the password and we can't delete or create a new one. This seems like a major issue that Microsoft should be addressing immediately considering that just about every home with multiple computers is probably going to run into this problem.

Guest Author: Bonnie23 Aug 2015

Jim--To FIND your HomeGroup password in Windows 10, click your cursor onto your "Ask me anything" search bar (Cortana). Type the following:
HomeGroup; hit enter
Click on HomeGroup/Control Panel (this will be a colored box choice at the top of the list that pops up)
A new box will pop up titled Change HomeGroup Settings.
Under "Other Homegroup Actions," click on
"View or Print the homegroup password"
A new box will pop up titled "View and print your homegroup password"
Inside the highlighted box is your Homegroup password.

I am having trouble connecting my desktop to my laptops as a Homegroup as well after upgrading my entire household to Windows 10. Nothing has worked so far. I will post more if I figure out how to get them connected.

Guest Author: stonepony6923 Aug 2015

I need help. Both laptops and both desktops in my home have been upgraded to Windows 10. Was this a big mistake? Reason being I misplaced my Home group password and now I can't find it. Can anyone help?

Guest Author: John Riley23 Aug 2015

Once again - This is the same as anybody can find in Windows help. This does not help anybody! Anybody actually have a solution to any of the Windows 10 home group problems?

Guest Author: Steve24 Aug 2015

@John Riley ... I am successfully sharing a homegroup created on my Win 10 laptop and serving two Win 8.1 systems. All seems fine. We can share documents and printers, etc.

I can find the homegroup password the same as on Win 8.1 systems ... I run the "Homegroup" app in Control Panel, then I select "View or print the homegroup password."

@stonepony69 ... have you tried "Leaving" your homegroup (i.e. deleting it on the system that is hosting it), and recreating it?

Guest Author: Shraddha31 Aug 2015

Dear Friends, I had same problem with my Home Group.

My both Computers were showing "Join Homegroup Created by Computer 1", so then Computer 2 does not have a chance to create a new Homegroup. I shut down one computer and created Homegroup by searching it in Control Panel and then it showed me to create new group. After creating a new group it showed me password and I was able to enter it in the other computer.

Guest Author: Mike21 Sep 2015

Solutions using Cortana are of no use to many new win 10 users as they are unable to get it working in the UK.

Guest Author: Annie07 Oct 2015

I upgraded to Windows 10, as my Windows 7 kept slowing down and sometimes freezing. Then I realized that the homegroup was not working anymore. I do have the password, but it is not recognized by Windows 10, my main server. What to do?

Guest Author: Jeff07 Oct 2015

Set up Homegroup for 2 boxes running Windows 10 - I am able to see the other user and folders being shared. But when clicking on the folders, nothing happens. I am using Uverse as my service provider. The troubleshooter finds nothing other than the option to troubleshoot the network. Any suggestions?

Guest Author: Michael10 Oct 2015

In order to find the Homegroup password:
In Explorer, right click Homegroup
Select "View the HomeGroup password"
Password is displayed

Guest Author: I.J. Davidson11 Oct 2015

This is the quintessence of uselessness. Any newbie can figure out how to join a homegroup. Microsoft makes it eminently "discoverable," as they like to say. A post that would really be USEFUL would be a post that tells you what to do if you CAN'T join a homegroup. According to what I find on the web, a lot of people have that problem.

Guest Author: Colin Howard14 Dec 2015

I agree with I.J. Davidson. There are too many bloggers just reiterating what is in the product instructions and if it works for them the assumption is it should work for you. This is not always the case as environments are different. I'm not supplying an answer as I can't get homegroup to work either. My opinion is that it is a poor software design.

Guest Author: Jim16 Dec 2015

I believe if you are using MS accounts, then each computer in the HomeGroup network must have that account (similar to how it all works when no domain service is present). Opening a network resource would ask for the user's account info (name and password) but if the HomeGroup is active and the password has been entered, then no user info will be required.

Guest Author: Curtis20 Dec 2015

Is there any way to delete an existing HomeGroup? The computer we used to set up our HomeGroup is no longer on the network (my wife upgraded PCs) and there doesn't seem to be any way to remove the old group. We can't find the password to the old group and we can't change or create a new one. We're pulling our hair out trying to figure this mess out. We upgraded from Windows 7 and 8 to 10 and haven't been able to access the HomeGroup since. Do we need to do a clean install of Windows 10 to make the old HomeGroup go away so that we can create a new one with our current PCs?

Guest Author: Linda18 Feb 2016

My brother and I have both created a Homegroup and are not able to connect to each other. Can someone please explain how I can actually connect to a Homegroup??

Guest Author: Martin Cowan02 Jun 2016

After upgrading to Windows 10, I could not connect to the preexisting home group. The program offered to let me create a new home group, but when I tried that, I got a message that it could not create a homegroup on this computer. Cannot find a solution.

Guest Author: Fraggle19 Mar 2017

Ok. So I followed the steps and each time I get windows cannot set up a homegroup on this computer. I have tried setting up a new homegroup from this pc and also from another pc and join that homegroup, getting the same response each time. That is the only response I get. No this is why it won't set it up, just "no, i won't do that". I have run the troubleshooter, got as much info as sticking my head up my ass and spinning around.

Guest Author: NOSHARE01 Dec 2017

I think by now everyone should be able to figure out how to find the password and delete/remake the HomeGroup. The problem I am having is I CANNOT share documents of any kind regardless of how many settings I change on both computers. I was trying to link Win 10 and 8.1. Tried 50 different configurations of sharing options (even with an ethernet cable) and just can't share anything. So I upgraded 8.1 to 10. Same issues. Both computers can easily join the HomeGroup but I can't share anything. Any suggestions? Been working on this for 3 days now. Ready to just punch a hole in my screen.

Guest Author: Allan Brown21 Dec 2017

Can't connect to another printer on our home network using User Group now that we have Windows 10. Just bought a new HP printer. We can't connect (as we used to with Win 8)

Guest Author: Clarence28 Feb 2018

all my computer show, Join homegroup, so which one is inviting me to join?

Guest Author: Adrijus06 Jul 2018

it seems that for me the homegroup option or so doesn't even exist like if I type in homegroup NOTHING I go to control panel also NOTHING about homegroup even though I clearly remember creating the homegroup on this exact same computer.

Guest Author: Server-ADMIN;213-Ric14 Dec 2018

There is no such thing as an option homegroup on windows 10 ! PLEASE HELP ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Submit Article

Return to Article Index