Steam Family Sharing Limitations

Steam Family Sharing may not work on your Windows 11 PC due to one of the following limitations:

• Family Sharing not enabled: Ensure that the Family Sharing feature is enabled in your Steam client from Settings > Family > Family Library Sharing.
• Sharing restrictions: Some games restrict family sharing, such as VAC-protected games or where the developers opt out of sharing the game.
• Authorization issues: Verify that the recipient’s account can access your library. Go to Settings > Family > Manage Family Library Sharing > Eligible Devices, and ensure that your recipient is listed and enabled.
• Library visibility: Ensure your Steam library is visible to the recipient account. Click View > Libraries in the Steam client app and ensure ‘Shared library’ is enabled.

Common Fixes

• Ensure your game supports sharing: Visit the game page in your Steam client app to check if it supports sharing.
• Sign out of Steam and log back in: Account authentication issues can halt Steam Family Sharing. Open the Steam app, select your username at the top right corner, and click ‘Sign out of account’. Once logged out, type your account credentials, and click Sign in to regain access.
• Reinstall the game: A corrupt or erroneous game file can create issues in sharing your game. Reinstall it and retry Steam Family Sharing.
• Update or reinstall Steam: Download the Steam installer and run it to update or reinstall the Steam client on Windows 11.

Fix 1: Authorize Library Sharing in Steam

Steam Family Sharing won’t work on Windows 11 if the Steam client app doesn’t have the necessary library sharing authorization. Open its settings to check and enable it.

Step 1: Open the Steam app, click Steam at the top left corner, and select Settings.

Step 2: Select Family from the left sidebar and enable Authorize Library Sharing on this device.

Fix 2: Permit Steam Through Windows Security

If you’re getting a ‘Shared library locked or not showing’ error while running the Steam Family Sharing feature, the Windows Security app is restricting its access to the Steam servers. Open Windows Security app settings to manually add Steam as an exception.

Step 1: Press the Windows key, search Windows Security, and click to open it.

Step 2: Select Virus & threat protection from the left sidebar, and click Manage settings under ‘Virus & threat protection settings’.

Step 3: Scroll down and click Add or remove exclusions under Exclusions.

Step 4: Next, click Add an exclusion and select Folder.

Step 5: Paste ‘C:\Program Files (x86)‘ in the address bar, press Enter, and select the Steam folder. Click Select Folder to finalize adding Steam as an exception in Windows Security.

Fix 3: Verify Game Files Integrity

If the game you wish to share has missing or corrupt files, Steam Family Sharing may not work as intended. Use Steam’s ‘Verify integrity of the game files’ feature to automatically repair them.

Step 1: Open the Library tab in the Steam app, right-click a game that isn’t functioning properly in Steam Family Sharing, and select Properties.

Step 2: Select Installed Files from the left sidebar, and click Verify integrity of game files.

Fix 4: Reset the Winsock Catalog

The Winsock Catalog manages network communication on Windows 11. Its corruption or misconfiguration may halt Steam Family Sharing. To fix it, reset the Winsock Catalog using Command Prompt and retry sharing your game on Steam.

Step 1: Press the Windows key, search Command Prompt, and click Run as administrator.

Step 2: Paste the below command in the console and hit Enter to reset the Winsock Catalog.

netsh winsock reset