trippap

I have a very similar problem. I'm running under Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and recently set up a VM running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The installation in the VM is not an upgrade, but is a valid stand-alone license. I've created a Homegroup on the host computer, and have been successful in connecting to it from another laptop computer, also running Win7 Professional 64-bit, on my local network. When I click on "choose Homegoup and sharing options" in the Network and Sharing Center on my VM, it reports that my username has created a homegroup my host computer, and I'm presented with a "Join now" button. I click that, and am taken to a dialog box titled Join a Homegroup, where I choose what sort of files I want to share, and after clicking the Next button, I am instructed to Type the password, which I do. The dialog box is still titled "Join a Homegroup. After a long pause the error message "Windows cannot set up a Homegoup on this computer." appears. It's interesting to me that I was attempting to join the Homegroup, not set one up. I've researched issues joining homegroups on the Web and have found references to deleting a file named idstore.sst, which I've tried, to no avail. I've checked that the networking setting on my VM is a bridging setup, as required to communicate with other computers on my local network. Nothing appears to work. I'd really like to know whether this inability to join a homegroup from a VM is by design or if it's a bug that might get fixed. If some MS techie who is in-the-know would contribute that information, it would be great, so I could stop wasting time trying to get connected to my homegroup.