[dba-Tech] Windows 10 HomeNetwork

[Gustav Brock]

Hi John

Thanks. That sounds exactly what my friend needs. Right now they are messing around with two printers and some USB sticks and drives and can "never find anything".

"Windows Workgroups" ... oh my - brings back (bad) memories.

/gustav

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-Tech [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af John R Bartow
Sendt: 29. oktober 2015 00:16
Til: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues' <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Emne: Re: [dba-Tech] Windows 10 HomeNetwork
Prioritet: Høj

Hi Gustav,
HomeGroups are the easy networking technique for Windows devices since Win7.
For the Home Version I believe it is the default network setup. 

I don't have one permanently setup here as it doesn't suit my needs but for the typical family it is a good thing. I did set one up once o test it. It makes networks somewhat transparent for the typical end user. It makes printer sharing a non-issue. When I first connected my Surface RT to a HomeGroup it went and installed all the printers without me doing anything - and they all worked! Files are shared via libraries which makes it quite useful for streaming music, videos and viewing photos.

I think there is an ability to connect a domain connected computer to a HomeGroup but I've never gone down that path. Occasionally when I'm having networking issues with a client I find that someone has set their wireless network to "Home" and in the advanced settings that triggers the HomeGroup security to turn on. Apparently it doesn't mix well with the user/password security model.

Note that this technology does make the older, "Windows Workgroups"
irrelevant.
Regards,
John

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-Tech [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 2:10 PM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Windows 10 HomeNetwork

Thanks all.

I found out it is called HomeGroup. A guide is here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/homegroup-help#homegroup-start-to
-finish=windows-81&v1h=win81tab1&v2h=win7tab1

Strangely, no guide is found for Windows 10, but I guess it can't be that different.

All my computers are hooked up to our Active Directory so I cannot create a HomeGroup, only connect to one (which I can't create). I will have to set up a virgin VM or two with the Home or Pro version to check it out.

It seems to be pretty easy.

/gustav

________________________________________
Fra: dba-Tech <dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com> på vegne af Gary Kjos <garykjos at gmail.com>
Sendt: 28. oktober 2015 19:09
Til: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Emne: Re: [dba-Tech] Windows 10 HomeNetwork

Hi Gustav

I have a network at home. I guess it is a HomeNetwork.  I have 4 desktops running various versions, Windows 10 64 Pro, Windows 7 64 Pro, Windows Vista, XP. Two laptops, one Vista and one XP. A surround sound receiver, a Blueray Disk Player, and a HP 8450 Photosmart Ethernet connected printer all sharing things. I have drives mapped from system to system where appropriate. Additionally there are 2 tablets and 2 smart phones sharing the Internet through the WIFI although they aren't connected to other devices.
Internet connection is through a cable company provided modem/router. That router has 4 wired ports and 802.11n WIFI. I have a 8 port Gigabit switch plugged into one of the wired ports and a second 8 Port Gigabit switched plugged into one of the ports on the first switch.  The XP desktop is connected via WIFI as are the laptops but the other 3 desktops, the surround sound receiver, the Blueray player and the printer are all connected via wires.  Pretty much everything can see everything with the exception that the XP systems sometimes have difficulty connecting to drives on the Win 7 system. Everything can see the printer which is the main thing that needs to be shared.  None of these systems is officially a server although I do use some of them as file storage primarily now.  The desktops have all been my main workstation at home at some point over the years and rather than just toss them when the replacement came, I continued to use them for other things and to remain as a backup of important files that I might still want at some
point.   The router is assigning all the network IP addresses and
things and managing that kind of stuff. I think that is a standard thing for a router to do.

I certainly am no expert but I have fumbled my way though getting it working and keeping it working over the years.  The router just died last Saturday night and so I had to deal with getting a replacement from the cable company on Sunday morning and getting it configured to work the same as the old one did with the same encryption password etc.

My Win 10 system was originally Win 8, then upgraded to 8.1 then to 10 and then I reloaded it completely from a Win 10 64 Pro DVD after having a video issue on the upgraded version.  It's been stable since and I am still not sure what happened that necessitated that reload but I had absolutely no video on it after the BIOS screen. I guess I did get to a boot menu a few times.  It had been kind of a flaky system all through it's life until the latest reload. It's a homebuilt system so only myself to blame there. It's not a mission critical system for me as it's only the music server for the Home Theater system and I have hard copies of the music. My Win 7 system is also built from a barebones kit and it's been very stable over the years.

I think if you have a router you have everything you need to share files and devices between peer workstations.


On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 2:26 AM, Gustav Brock <gustav at cactus.dk> wrote:
> Hi all
>
> Anyone having experience with the HomeNetwork of Windows 10 (or 8.x)?
>
> A friend of mine and his family need some kind of 
> network/interconnection
for their four pc/laptops - and a true network with server and AD will be overkill for sure. Besides, some devices only run the Home editions of Windows 7. All machines will be upgraded to Windows 10 however.
>
> /gustav