Windows 8.1 upgrade/HomeGroup and network issues

Client upgraded to W8.1 and created a new account with a .live e-mail, and it was previously a local account under Windows 8. Supposedly all settings were migrated to the new 8.1 account, but there are network problems.

This setup uses mouse without borders, a big screen monitor for the desktop, and a big screen cloned from the laptop. SO, desktop, laptop, and two monitors whose desktops which are contiguous. Also, when we dropped Comodo we were able to view some folders previously not seen.

After the upgrade, we cannot see the HP desktop on the network via the laptop. We've been working on it, and though permissions have been edited and read/write is permissible, some folders still could not be seen, and we couldn't save files to the desktop on the network from the laptop. Permissions did not qualify, and we were politely instructed to conact our System Administrator for assistance. Manipulating the IP via "mouse without borders" allows us to manipulate the files and folders between the machines with no issue, but apparently the desktop is not broadcasting it's name. Or, so it seems.

Under ipconfig /all NetBios looks to be configured properly, but I am not well versed in ISATAP and tunneling.

Is it possibly the deleted user account from the previous install causing these issues, or does anyone have any ideas?

 

Local networked machine?

Windows is notorious for shoddy network crawl, for every version. Does mapping a network drive work ok?

 

We could see the drives, but not the machine itself.

What we ended up doing in the workgroup/homegroup was setting the permissions for "Everyone" to full control, and the only two users in the group are the laptop, and the desktop.

Looking back, I think Comodo should have been disabled, and uninstalled before the upgrade/migration. Also, switching from a local user to a newly named .live mail account probably did not help either.