Running through the current beta of Windows 7 to make sure my clients and myself will be properly prepared once Microsoft’s new OS officially launches (probably by the end of 2009), one thing Windows 7 needs improvement on is its Networking features.

Since joining your network/workgroup in Windows 7 isn’t exactly obvious, here are the steps to get it to work. Click the screen shots of Windows 7 to enlarge them. I assume you got your Internet connection running already.

1) On your Windows 7 machine go to the Start menu > RIGHT CLICK Computer > CLICK Properties

This will launch the windows dialog you see here:

2) Go down to the area that lists your currently joined Workgroup (”WORKGROUP” by default), to the right of that you’ll see the link “Change settings“. Click that.

This will get you to the System Properties window. Look toward the bottom where it says “To rename this computer or change its domain or workgroup, click Change”

Do that.

3) A new windows box pops open named Computer Name/Domain Changes. On the bottom of that there’s a text field for the Workgroup name. Type in the exact name of the workgroup you are trying to join (your home network or whatever). Click OK.

You will need to restart your machine for these changes to take effect. Once you do that however you should be able to see all computers on your network, even computers with Windows XP.

Here is a screen shot of the different dialog windows boxes you’ll encounter.

There are other methods of doing this but this way seems to be the fastest for now. Hope it helps!

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