On my server I am running Win 7 Pro 64-bit (SP1) with a wired Ethernet connection to my router.
I have several other networked devices in my network including wired and wireless devices, Win 7 PCs, a Win XP PC, and some other devices such as network backup, and media center. I am having problems with devices seeing each other (especially my server) and sharing resources (files and printing).
On my server I am able to connect to the internet through my wired connection. However, in "Network and Sharing Center" under active networks I see "You are currently not connected to any networks." The link to "Connect to a network" shows that I have no networks to connect to. When I try to connect to my homegroup or to create a homegroup, I am told "To create or join a homegroup, your computer's network location must be set to Home." Mine is set to public and I cannot change this as to make this change requires me to click on the Home/Work/Public icon/link in my active network and I do not have any active (or inactive) network. Therefore there is no link to allow me to get to the "Change Network Location" dialog box.
I have tried trouble shooting the network (no problems found) and the Homegroup troubleshoot (no problems found).
I have considered doing a Win 7 Repair Install to fix whatever network configuation problems I am unable to access. However, my original disk is an OEM Windows 7 Pro 64-bit without SP1. Now that my machine has been on SP1 for about a year, it will not allow me to do a Repair Install and the version on my machine is newer (greater) than what is on the installation disk. Also I considered un-installing SP1 but that also failed. Some error message about missing files. I even tried the Command Line un-install of SP1 and that also failed.
What can I do to fix this short of a complete wipe of the disk drive and a clean install?
################################################################
UPDATE: Feb. 13, 2015 - Finally Fixed!
The post on Jan 28, 2015 by BennyPootron led me to the solution.
In RegEdit, at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles" I deleted all the profiles under this (I had three).
Also, at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Signatures\Unmanaged" were three corresponding items which I also deleted. This cleaned the slate, so to speak, and when I rebooted, I was able to change my network location to Home and then join my Home Group.
Many thanks to BennyPootron for the insight that led to my solution.
