How to connect to Steam family access (Steam Family Sharing): activation, settings

Very often members of the same family have to divide not only the place of residence, but also the computer. This is especially acute when there are not one, but two, or, perhaps, more gamblers. Decide who and when will spend leisure time in front of the screen, it's easy. At the same time, it is difficult to avoid conflicts on the basis of the passage of the same game. "Why did you touch my preservation?", "I should have received this achievement before!" - the family members reproach each other. Developers of the world-famous site for the sale of computer games have come up with a way to get rid of the eternal conflict - Steam Family Sharing.

What it is?

One of the new options Steam - family access, if you refer to the translation of its name. How does it work? Steam Family Sharing opens an attractive opportunity for users of one computer - to share games from a personal shopping list with friends or family members. At the same time, each authorized account has its own preservations and achievements that are in the individual use of its owner.

Steam Guard

Before you can connect family access to Steam, you need to make sure that your account is protected with an additional feature. Ideally, it should be included at all. The simplest level of security is the password, without which you can not log into your account. But, as you know, intruders can get it. When activating Steam Guard, the user can be sure that people who are not related to his account will not be able to easily take him away.

Once the option is turned on, the account in question will not be logged in without authorization. The system will generate a random set of letters and numbers, which will immediately send to the e-mail address specified during registration. Or it will appear in a special Steam application, available to smartphone owners. This code is mandatory for entering into a special window: along with the password and login.

How to enable Steam Guard?

Before making family access to Steam active, you need to go through this step. This feature is automatically turned on if the user has confirmed the email address to which the account is linked. And after that, I restarted the Steam client two times. However, if a user accidentally or intentionally disconnects it and now wants to return it back, there are two ways:

• Re-confirm the email address you provided when registering your account. You can check if this is done in the client settings. If everything went well, the email address will be listed as confirmed.
• Activation of the option in the client settings. After you log in to the account, just select the "Manage Steam Guard Settings" item. Here the function can be safely turned on.

You can also further secure your account by downloading a special application to your phone. Every time the user authorizes the data, a code will be generated on his smartphone. Without it, he can not enter the network.

Step One: Authorize Your Computer

Configuring Steam's family access starts with this operation. Authorization of a new device must be made by going into the client settings. In the window that opens, you need to find the Family line and click on it with the mouse cursor. After this action is completed, a window will open. It displays the list of authorized devices. From the presented list of computers you need to select the one from which the user is currently sitting, and click the "Authorize device" button. In the pop-up dialog box, you are asked to specify the name of the new technology object. It is advisable to enter it in such a way that in the future you will not forget to whom exactly the access to the library of games was opened. After confirming the name, the computer will be authorized in the Steam system. Family access for him will be included.

Now, any user logging into the system from an authorized computer can access the full library of games. He can spend time in any of them, if it is not used by someone else. The game is available to only one user at a time. If a friend went into the game, and its owner also decides to have fun in it, he will receive a warning. It will offer to buy the game or give a few minutes to save and exit. The game owner has priority access to it.

Step Two: Request for Access

How to make family access on Steam, if the guest has been authorized from the user's computer, installed the game, but forgot to give access to this device? Having already logged in from his account, the owner of the computer can send a request for permission to use the guest library. Each game, without exceptions, installed on the computer through Steam, will be in the list with the signature of the owner's name.

It is enough to choose interesting fun from the list and try to go into it. A pop-up dialog box appears. The user will be asked to pay for the game or send a request for permission to use the library to its owner. The next step will be the introduction of the name of the computer, so that the friend could find out who sent him the request.

After completion of the operation, a person will receive a corresponding notification. And the owner of the library will receive a letter to the e-mail indicated during registration. The query text is displayed. The owner of the computer will have full access to the library of the comrade, as soon as he confirms his permission to do so. A user who has access to their games will be able to see the completion of the list of authorized computers. After that, on Steam, family access will be turned on.

Deauthorization of the device

Once the owner of an extensive library realized that for a certain device on Steam family access is best closed, he can easily do it. It is enough to go to the list of authorized devices, select one or more and click the "Deactivate" button. After that, the owners of computers excluded from the list of devices will lose the ability to get unhindered access to the library of games of a certain user. But not forever. They can also be authorized back.