Steam Family Sharing; Must I install the games again for each account?
I have a younger brother. His Library consists of four games. Mine is 50+. I don't want to leave him logged into my Steam Account, so Family Sharing is a great boon. However, upon authorizing the computer and his profile, his Library insists that he needs to re-install all of the games into his Steam folder. Is there a way to avoid this? I've already eaten up more than half of the drive's space- there's no way he can install all of them.
Best Answer
If both accounts are using the same computer, you just need to point Steam to your steamapps folder location.
- Click to install one of the games
- When it comes up on the first window with location, make sure you choose to select
Newfrom drop down menu. - Navigate to where your folder is located.
- Steam will recognise the game folders within and use them for your brother to play.
This will not work if he has his own computer, so he will have to install them on his own computer if he wants to play them there.
Pictures about "Steam Family Sharing; Must I install the games again for each account?"
Quick Answer about "Steam Family Sharing; Must I install the games again for each account?"
Can 2 people play different games on Steam Family Sharing?
Can two users share a library and both play at the same time? No, a shared library may only be played by one user at a time including the owner and even if they want to play different games.Can family members play Steam games at the same time?
Family Sharing allows family members to share games while keeping their accounts separate. Family and guests can play one another's games while earning their own Steam achievements and saving their own game progress to the Steam Cloud. It works by granting family members access to games on a shared computer.Can you share Steam games between accounts?
You can share games on Steam through family accounts, which let you install games that are in another user's library. The game will still be owned by the original purchaser's account, but family sharing will allow other accounts to play the game at no extra charge.Can you play the same game while family sharing?
Family sharing acts as though you were passing the account login back and forth. Only one person can access any given account at one time. So as soon your brother starts a game, you or anyone else is locked out. It will not let you play as though you had two copies of the game.How to Family Share Games on Steam! Steam Family Share Tutorial!
More answers regarding steam Family Sharing; Must I install the games again for each account?
Answer 2
As Flaunting mentioned, if it's on the same computer, just on a different account, let the steamapps directory point to the same place for both users.
In the case of both computers being in the same home network, but not the same PC per say, it already gets difficult. You could then put your steamapps folder on a shared network drive, but that would most likely lead to stutters if not outright errors due to the transportation time of the data.
Then, not directly referring to your question, an option, nevermind it being inefficient and generally a hassle, would be to only copy the games he wants to play at a given time over to his PC and delete them again if he's done. Well, that or buying an additional hard disk, as disk space is cheap.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: RODNAE Productions, RODNAE Productions, RODNAE Productions, RODNAE Productions