HomeGroup

HomeGroup
	Component of Microsoft Windows
	HomeGroup folder in Windows 10 April 2018 Update
Type	ad hoc network
Included in	Windows 7 to Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

HomeGroup (or Homegroup) was an ad hoc home networking feature of several Microsoft Windows operating systems, which allowed users to share media and documents between different computers in the home network. Originally planned for Windows Vista, it was introduced with the release of Windows 7 and was marketed as one of its major new features. The HomeGroup feature was later ported to Windows Home Server 2011. It remained present in Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and earlier versions of Windows 10 before being removed in Windows 10 April 2018 Update.

History[edit | edit source]

The earliest mention of the then-upcoming feature is present in Windows 7 build 6498, where user is offered to create a homegroup during the out-of-box experience. Build 6741 saw the addition of new HomeGroup sharing options for the folders. However, the functional folder for the HomeGroup didn't exist until the build 6776. The feature received its final icon in build 7022.

During Windows 8 development, the HomeGroup feature remained in place, but the ability to set it up during the OOBE was removed in the build 7790. After this change, no new updates (except changed icon in Windows 10 build 10125) were made to the HomeGroup feature before it was removed in Windows 10 build 17134.1. However, the HomeGroup folder and the relevant Control Panel applet are still present in newer versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 (albeit being broken in the latter). To open them, use the following commands:

File Explorer folder: explorer.exe shell:::{b4fb3f98-c1ea-428d-a78a-d1f5659cba93}
Control Panel applet: explorer.exe shell:::{67ca7650-96e6-4fdd-bb43-a8e774f73a57}