Steam family sharing question....

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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Am I correct in thinking that I can set up a new Steam account for my son and then share my entire library of games with him so he can play (and save progress, earn achievements etc) under his own account?

Assuming this is correct however, the way I read it is that only one of us can be logged in to the library at any one time? (ie. If he's mid-game and I log in, he gets booted?)

Ideally I want him to have his own account to play a game for him, like Slime Rancher, while I play my games - I presume this isn't possible under the family sharing facility and I'd need to buy the game again under his account?
 
StevieP said:
Am I correct in thinking that I can set up a new Steam account for my son and then share my entire library of games with him so he can play (and save progress, earn achievements etc) under his own account?

Assuming this is correct however, the way I read it is that only one of us can be logged in to the library at any one time? (ie. If he's mid-game and I log in, he gets booted?)

Ideally I want him to have his own account to play a game for him, like Slime Rancher, while I play my games - I presume this isn't possible under the family sharing facility and I'd need to buy the game again under his account?
Click to expand...

Don’t you have to share it on the same PC? So you wouldn’t be able to login at the same time anyway?

I can’t remember 100%
 
You need to login on his PC/Steam and go to Settings->Family Sharing. Then Authorise this PC. then log out and when he logs in he can install any of your games and play them. You can both be using your own steam accounts simultaneously; but only one of you can play any game at one time. Just means you cannot both have the same game open at the same time.

I share my library with several of my family members this way.
 
AS the above basically. FYI you can also do similar with xbox game pass if you have it. Sign in Microsoft store as you, sign in xbox store as him. He then gets to use your subscription (just remove any cards attached to your account otherwise he could go ordering things on the MS store lol)
 
Right, so I can create a Steam ID for him, share my games library and we can both be logged on at the same time as long as we don't want to play the same game at the same time?
 
StevieP said:
Right, so I can create a Steam ID for him, share my games library and we can both be logged on at the same time as long as we don't want to play the same game at the same time?
Click to expand...

I think it's any game, and you have priority. If he's on a game and oyu start playing, he'll get a warning and a time limit. If you're playing a game and he tries to play one, he'll just get an error that i can't remember the wording of. I do the same with my son, but that's also why i share the xbox store, so he can play that if im on a steam game.
 
That's exactly what I do with my son. My son has access to my entire library. You set it up on his PC - log in as you on his PC, turn on family sharing, then log out. When he logs in, he can see all of your library (you can choose to show / not show some games)

However, if you fire up a Steam game on your PC, he will get booted on his PC.
 
Well that's disappointing! :(

I was hoping we could both be logged in at the same time as long as we weren't playing the same game!
 
Martini1991 said:
You can play offline.

That's what I do with my girlfriend.
I just play games offline when she's using my library
Click to expand...

The trouble is I'm the one that needs to be online and it doesn't seem to work that way!

CostaBunny74 said:
You CAN be. As long as you each have a separate steam account, and don't play the same game at the same time; you will both be fine.
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I tried earlier, my son was on Slime Rancher on the laptop while logged in to his Steam account and I logged in to mine on the desktop and booted up 7 Days to Die and a message popped up on the laptop saying they had 5 minutes before it logged him out!?!?
 
You were right with your original assumption, if he is playing any game from your library and you launch any game from your library then he gets booted out after x amount of time.
You cannot both play games at the same time from the same account.
 
What you can do is:

He launches the game from your library
Unplug his network cable
You play whatever you want

He won't get booted out, because steam doesn't know you've launched the game.

Obviously this will only work for him playing offline games
 
CostaBunny74 said:
my nephew plays my games on his pc, while I play different ones on mine - we even discord each other and cht while doing it.
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If both games are from the same library you wouldn't be able to do this. The only way this would be possible, is if he was playing a game from your library and you loaded up a game from either his or someone else's library, or put yourself in offline mode. It may be that he actually owns a copy of the game he's playing on his account. If your library is in use from another user, I think there is some indication on Steam before you click Play to inform you it's in use.
 
I don't get any notification, my son just gets booted.

It didn't used to work like this. We used to be able to play different games at the same time. But now if I play any game, he gets booted if he's playing a game from my library.
 
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