What's a homegroup?

A homegroup is a group of PCs on a home network that can share files and printers. Using a homegroup makes sharing easier. You can share pictures, music, videos, documents and printers with other people in your homegroup.



HomeGroup is available in Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1 and Windows 7. You can join a homegroup on a PC running Windows RT 8.1, but you can't create a homegroup or share content with the homegroup. In Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic, you can join a homegroup, but you can't create one.


  • This tutorial is designed to help you create, join and use a homegroup. Because the instructions can vary for different Windows operating systems, open this tutorial on each PC so that you see the correct instructions for that PC, or use the selector to choose a Windows operating system.

  • To move through the tutorial, click on each step or click Next, completing each step before moving on.

Need more help?

Help from the community

Get answers to your questions in the Windows forum.

Help from Microsoft
