No Access to Family Share Games

[Lionitus]

Me and my brother share our game libraries, haven't been able to access family shared games for about a week now. When I select a game I do not personally own, Steam says I must Purchase the game, even though my brother is not online.

I have already checked and ensured that I am still on his family share plan, by going to settings > family > Manage Other Computers, and steam says I should have access to all the games.

What can I do to fix this or what am I doing wrong.

[Pscht]

What does it say on the OTHER end?

[Lionitus]

On my brother's side, it says I am authorized, and have been since 2015. The family view option is also disabled on both accounts.

[Chika Ogiue]

Are you both in the same country with both Steam accounts having the same store region? Mismatches between those can prevent family sharing from working.

[Lionitus]

Yes, we live only a 40 minute drive apart.

[IFIYGD]

Are they sharing with anyone else, besides yourself? If a third computer/account is using the library- it will become unavailable to you, though the owner of the game licences should have priority and be able to boot the other authorized user out.

Both of you need to check to make sure your accounts are not compromised in any way, as well.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Lionitus:

Yes, we live only a 40 minute drive apart.

And neither of you are using a VPN that might put one of the IP addresses in a different region?

These might seem silly questions, but I can family share my main account with my daughter, but I can't share my secondary account with my main on the exact same PC. After much testing, I found it's because of the store region mismatch and could consistently recreate a temporary fix.

If the store regions on both accounts are not the problem for the two of you, it might still be easiest to solve while you're both in the same physical location. So I'd suggest getting your PCs in the same room so you can each log into your accounts on the other's PC, and test from there.

[Lionitus]

Sorry for late reply, no, they are not sharing with anyone else, and no they do not use a VPN.

[GlowFlower]

I've had a few cases where we had to redo the family sharing thing - for some reason it went way... I think it was under settings -> family and also having family member log into your machine and also set these settings... Been awhile - but doing this fixed it without help from Steam support...

Edited to add - I see a list of accounts under this setting (not the Manage Other Computers one) that I have to tick the box next to...

[Lionitus]

I will check with my brother to make sure that is checked off.

[Lionitus]

Yes, my name is checked off in the Eligible Accounts table.

[Ogami]

Sometimes Family Share just breaks, there is not really a reason behind it.
All you can do is setting it up from the start again, disable all authorizations and Family Share first and restart Steam, then go through the process from the start, you login to your brothers PC with your account and activate Family Share in the client settings, then he does the same on your PC.

Then restart Steam and see if it worked. Its a pain in the ass but often the only way to fix problems with Family Share.

[Lionitus]

Seems like that is what needs to be done... thanks everyone for your help, I'll try to update this thread on if a full reset works or not when I get a chance to do it.