Fix Steam Family Sharing Not Working Error By Applying Technical Troubleshooting Tips

The feature of Steam Family Sharing enables every member in your family to share games without merging their accounts and keeping them separate. But, many users are getting technical issues with their Steam accounts while sharing the games with family members. This can usually happen when the set up for sharing games on Steam is done by following a wrong method. There can be software issues and even connectivity errors, which can prevent the Steam Family Sharing from running. If you are also experiencing that your Steam Family Sharing not working due to some reasons, keep reading this article. Here, you will get to know a few technical solutions to work with Family Sharing feature on Steam comfortably.

How to Set Up Steam Family Sharing on your Computer and Make It Work?

In many cases, following the correct procedure for doing the setup can resolve the issue of Steam Family Sharing not working. Hence, before discussing any other methods to make the Family Sharing feature work on Steam. Let’s discuss this useful information.

Authorize the Steam Family Sharing for all the Users

In order to make use of all the outstanding features of Steam Family Sharing, you need to focus on authorizing the shared libraries. But, to enable the sharing option, the Steam Guard has to be enabled for the corresponding users’ accounts.

So, access your Steam account by entering the correct combination of username and password. Make sure you sign into the account, which is required to share the Steam games with family members.

Next, check the status of Steam Guard in your profile and ensure that it is turned on before doing the setup. You can easily monitor these settings by clicking on the ‘Account’ tab under the ‘Settings’ section.

After that, locate the tab of ‘Family’ from the Steam Settings panel in order to authorize access to another user. In case, you are looking for instructions in Big Picture mode, the steps are but different. Hence, click on the ‘Settings’ button and go to the tab for ‘Family Library Sharing’.

Now, below the heading of ‘Family Library Sharing’, find the checkbox for ‘Authorize Library Sharing on the computer’. Tick this box and also check the list of eligible accounts you want to share your Steam Library.

Instructions to Request Access for the Steam Games

First, check whether the Steam Guard is turned on for your account and visit the Library section. Here, you will be able to view the list of games, which are already authorized by other Steam account holders. These users are the ones who have Steam accounts on the same PC and would like to enable Family Sharing.

Next, choose a game from the list of options and hit the ‘Play’ button. This step is necessary in order to request access to browse and play the games in the respective Steam Library.

As the game owner receives the access request, it will appear in their email along with a link. This link is the authorization page to permit you for playing the games in their Steam Library.

Hence, if you suddenly find that the Steam Family Sharing not working, use this link to give other members access to your games.

How to Resolve Family Sharing Issues on your Steam Account?

In case you are facing any kind of technical difficulties while working with Steam Family Sharing, it can happen due to multiple reasons. One of the main issues that can stop Family Sharing is regarding proper authorization of games. There can also be issues with the device on which Steam games are being played by the users. Also, not every game but, a few specific games can remain unavailable on Steam Family Sharing. Hence, let’s discuss a few troubleshooting methods to fix the problem of Steam Family Sharing not working 2018.

Fix 1- Initiate a Re-authorization for your Shared Steam Library

If unauthorized sharing of games or files is the reason behind Family Sharing Steam not working, try this solution. But before that, verify whether the Steam application or website is working properly in order to execute the following steps.

If you are the owner of the Steam library, open the page of Device Management on your computer. Then, hit the ‘Manage Family Library Sharing’ tab and follow stepwise instructions to deauthorize your device. In case, you are using the same Steam account on various PCs randomly, choose the one which is giving this error.

Ask any of your member on the shared group to make use of the Steam Library to launch any game. As the borrower will try to run the game, it will generate a request link to share with the owner. This usually happens in the form of an authorization email with a link to access the game from user’s Steam Shared Library.

Now, you need to open this link in your email’s inbox and authorize the PC that has sent this email. Hence, when the member in the sharing circle receives this access code, he/she will be able to access the Steam Library content.

Fix 2- Unblock or Access Steam Content File With Technical Solutions

If you notice the Steam Family Sharing not working 2018 error on your PC, it can happen due to locked content file in Steam. Users can basically experience this issue when they attempt to update the Steam games. So, unless you unblock the content, updating files to the hard disk will not be possible for Steam. Hence, let’s discuss a few steps to enable Steam Family Sharing feature on your computer.

Step 1: Resolve the Corrupted System Files

Before fixing Steam Family Sharing not working problem, try to repair the System files that has got corrupted somehow. Once, these missing files are replaced with fresh new data, it will be easier to troubleshoot Steam error.

Step 2: Turn Off Antivirus Program on PC

Many times Steam Family Sharing apps can stop working if your computer is running antivirus software. Hence, it is recommended to disable the software and wait until Steam loads or updates the games. Now, after turning off the real-time scanning feature in your device’s antivirus program, apply the following steps.

In order to verify the game files integrity, reboot your PC and launch the Steam application. Next, navigate to the section of Library and select the game that is preventing Steam from working perfectly.

You need to right-click on this gaming file and select the option of ‘Properties’. Also, choose the tab for ‘Local Files’ and hit the button for ‘Verify Integrity of Game Cache’. Now, wait for Steam to verify the content in this game and relaunch it without any technical error.

Somehow, if any antivirus software marks SteamApps files as malicious content, it can affect Steam Family Sharing. Hence, you can copy the address of your current Steam directory and keep it disabled for real-time scanning. In most devices, the Steam directory address exists in the path link ‘C:\Program File\Steam\SteamApps\common’.

Step 3: Launch Command Prompt to Reset Winsock

The Steam Family Sharing app can also fail if the Winsock catalog is not updated on a regular basis. So, if you can access the content in your Steam Library by resetting Winsock on Windows Command Prompt.

To execute this step, open the Run dialog box by hitting both the Windows logo and R buttons simultaneously. However, make sure to sign into your system and run this command as an administrator to fix the Steam error.

Then enter ‘netsh winsock reset’ in the box and click on the ‘OK’ button. Now, wait for Windows to finish executing this command and reset Winsock catalog. Finally, restart your system and check whether Steam is allowing to use the Family Sharing feature.

Step 4: Change Location of Game and Steam Installation Files

In case the above steps are insufficient to enable the feature of Family Sharing on Steam, try to relocate the files of this gaming app. So, to apply this method, click on the ‘Settings’ tab after navigating to your Steam client.

After that, go to ‘Downloads’ section and hit the option of ‘Steam Library Folders’. Next, choose a new path by clicking on ‘Add Library Folder’, where you want to relocate the Steam files. Now, close the window of the Steam client and go to the Steam directory you are currently using.

Make sure you exclude the folders of exe, UserData, and SteamApps before deleting the remaining files. Now, paste these files to the new directory that you created for Steam to move these folders. After executing all these steps, reboot your computer and launch Steam after entering the login details as administrator.

If the issue of Steam Family Sharing not working persists even after applying the above solutions, you can uninstall this app and reinstall it. You can also consult a Steam technician and obtain technical fixes to troubleshoot the errors in the Family Sharing feature.