In some scenarios users will find that Windows 7 will not accept correct passwords on Homegroup connect attempts even if the credentials entered are indeed correct. Microsoft has confirmed that there is an issue with Windows 7 Homegroup joining of a new machine that causes the latest iteration of the Windows client to invalidate correct passwords and to effectively forbid end users to perform the action. According to the software giant, the error message presented in this type of situations reads: "The password is incorrect." The company has emphasized that this happens even if the password typed is correct, and that the problem is related to Date and Time Settings that are not synchronized.

“This can be caused by a difference in the Date and Time settings on the computer trying to join the homegroup, and not an invalid password. If the date/time of the computer joining a homegroup is greater than 24 hours apart from the date/time of the system that owns the homegroup, this will cause the error,” Microsoft informed.

Windows 7 users won’t be able to download a hotfix or an update to resolve this issue. However, the workaround is simple enough that an official fix from Microsoft is not in fact required. In order to resolve the problem all that users need do is to modify the date and time settings on the machines in order to correspond. After the change is done, users will find that they will be able to connect to a Windows 7 Homegroup without any issues.

“Adjust the date/time settings on the system joining the homegroup, to match the system that owns the homegroup, and then try to join again,” Microsoft added. “In this scenario, the authentication certificate is treated as invalid due to the timestamp. The error returned is simply stating that the authentication failed.”