Microsoft QLF-00195 manual Devices in a homegroup can Share files and printers

Homegroup gives you control over

what to share with other PCs.

After you’ve created your homegroup, accessing and sharing files among the various PCs—or other devices—in your home is like having all your data on a single hard disk drive. For example, you might have digital photos stored on a PC in your den. With HomeGroup, you can easily access those photos from a laptop or any other PC in the home-

group from anywhere in your home. Similarly, if there’s a printer connected to a PC in your homegroup, the printer is set up automatically on PCs that join the homegroup. In addition, with HomeGroup, you can specify exactly what you want to share so you can choose to keep private things private.

HomeGroup also works for PCs that are connected to a work domain. When your domain-joined work PC is joined to a home- group, you automatically have access to your shared home printer and any content shared

with the homegroup. However, for a domain-joined PC, HomeGroup file sharing is turned off by default, and IT professionals can use Group Policy to stop employees from joining a homegroup. (See “Group Policy Improvements in the IT Professionals” section for more information.)

Devices in a homegroup can

share files and printers.

Small businesses that do not have a server can also use HomeGroup to easily share documents and printers across multiple PCs running Windows 7.