Windows 7 “Home Group” on a work PC with only one NIC

Question

I am a Domain Admin and am trying to support BYOD with computers that will also be domain connected. The problem is that once I domain join a PC, the "zone" changes to "domain", while Homegroups require to be set to "home" in order to work correctly.

How can I get HomeGroup connected machines "talk" to each other while domain connected?

In this scenario, imagine a HomePC that is VPN'ed into work, and a work desktop both running Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate. I would like the user's files to be replicated between home and work, (but off our file server).

Answer 1

It is by design that a domain joined PC cannot connect to a HomeGroup on the same network as that would allow the circumvention of domain-specified security policies and the like (as well as cause confusion about what sort of authentication the machine should use on that network).

This TechNet article tells you how to configure domain joined PCs for use in a homegroup when at home, which you might be able to extend the PCs you're trying to use this method on by adding another NIC... but that would surely complicate things unnecessarily for what you're trying to achieve.

I think you might need to look at a better way for the remote machine to access files - have you tried using Offline Files against the file share? Saving Windows Credentials to the Credential Manager should suffice for authentication purposes.

• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Understanding-offline-files
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff633429(v=ws.10).aspx