File and Printer Sharing can't be turned On

[vacunita]

This is a weird one.

Just Installed Windows 7, fresh, the only other things it has are Office 2007, Firefox and AVG.
I can browse the Internet just fine no problems there. I;m posting this message from the PC in question.

However, when I go to Network and Sharing Center, and try to turn on File and Printer Sharing, and Public Sharing, I can't.
I'll check the radio button for both, and then click on Save settings, it appears to save, but when I open the Advanced Sharing Settings again, they are back to being off.

If I try to create a Homegroup, it comes back with the error "Windows cannot set up a Homegroup on this computer"

I've looked at the Services, and mysteriously I don't have the service Peer Networking Grouping that Homegroup supposedly requires, so I can't start it. It just doesn't exist in Services.

I'm not to interested in Homegroup, but I do need to be able to share a Printer with the rerst of the network from this machine.

I'm willing to venture that these two issues have a common root, but I can't seem to find much of anything on how to fix this (how to install this missing service or why its missing) in Google or the other usual resources.

Anybody encounter anything similar?


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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Which Windows 7 version?





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[vacunita]

Windows 7 Ultimate

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[linney]

Is the box ticked under the actual Network Adapter for File and Printer Sharing? Have you tried the Install and Uninstall buttons there too?

Have you tried the usual Winsock Fix of Netsh Winsock Reset?

Is this machine part of a Domain, or are there any Servers on your Network? This link talks about Firewall "Rules" that caused this problem for the poster.

Domain network cannot enable File and Print Sharing?

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...k/thread/397d1eb5-14d1-491f-859f-ad859e83db5e

Also are there any Domain or Workstation Group Policies?

http://www.ehow.com/how_5918391_enable-printer-sharing-group-policy.html

You can have a look at the Group Policy Settings concerning Firewalls (Domain or Workstation) via this - Computer Configuration/ Administrative Templates/ Network/ Network Connections/ Windows Firewall/



This is a Vista link but there may be some things in it for you?

Get File and Printer Sharing to work

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...g/thread/09e799ac-ef80-413b-b9a6-1c6408f79b54

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=t...ox&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=EvCJS5e0LsyIkAWNyIAK

Registry hack to disable file and print sharing in network.
Disable File and Print Sharing for network security

1. click Start -> Run -> Regedit
2. click HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Network
3. Add a new DWord Value
4. Rename it to (NoPrintSharing or NoFileSharing)
5. Assign it a value of 1

 

[vacunita]

Is the box ticked under the actual Network Adapter for File and Printer Sharing? Have you tried the Install and Uninstall buttons there too?

You mean the actual service in the Adapter properties? Yes its there. I did uninstall and re-install it. Though I haven't had time to go check after restarting the PC if it now works, will do that later today.

Have you tried the usual Winsock Fix of Netsh Winsock Reset?

Yup, and as I said Internet works fine, and I can go and browse the shares on the other PC's on the network.
I just can't turn on sharing on this one.

Is this machine part of a Domain, or are there any Servers on your Network? This link talks about Firewall "Rules" that caused this problem for the poster.

No domain, regular Workgroup. It was working before I re-installed. Had to, because the RT version I had installed was about to Expire so I installed a full release version. Clean install.

I did however go into the firewall settings and activated all the File and Printer sharing rules there, and set them to allow.

You can have a look at the Group Policy Settings concerning Firewalls (Domain or Workstation) via this - Computer Configuration/ Administrative Templates/ Network/ Network Connections/ Windows Firewall/

I'll take a look at the group policies later today. Though I don't know why there would be any policies set, on a clean install, and no domain.

I'll take a look at the links, see if anything applies.

By the way, its a wireless network, 3 PC's and 3 other wireless devices (xbox, iPod touch, blackberry).




----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[linney]

Do you have this entry and permissions to read it?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\p2psvc

I have 3 Peer ****** Services listed, do you have any of them at all?

Are there any clues to be found in the Event Viewer?

The Services may be missing because for some still unknown reason the File and Print sharing is disabled. When that problem is fixed the Services may return.

Before you spend too much time trying to sort out this mess, and as you have just installed the operating system, is it worth considering a new start and another fresh install. You could, for testing purposes, just do a dual boot to see what the outcome is likely to be if you do not want to scrub the original operating system.

 

[vacunita]

Do you have this entry and permissions to read it?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\p2psvc

I have 3 Peer ****** Services listed, do you have any of them at all?

Nope, the entry is not present, and the only Peer related service there is PeerDistSvc

I'll Try installing another copy in a different drive, see if I can Turn on File Sharing there.

Event viewer has nothing useful.


----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.