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Specific issue with Steam Family Sharing removal; can't seem to find any documentation on it, much less any solution.

A couple of years ago, I shared my Steam Library with someone via Family Share. Having not talked with him for a while, I revoked his access about a year ago, and have since shared with others, pictured below.

image of Manage Family Library Sharing page; names are blocked out with Purple and Green

However, he still appears in my Settings under Family as an "Eligible Account" for Family Sharing, also pictured below.

image of Family section of Steam Settings; Purple and Green names are switched on under Eligible Accounts, along with a Red name that is switched off.

After some testing with my friend in purple, I learned that the section under Manage Family Library Sharing is redundant; switching on and off a name in the Family section of Settings allows or revokes access above all else, and adjusts the Manage Family Library Sharing section accordingly. Revoking access via the redundant listing does remove their name from that page and remove their access, but does not turn off the slider in settings. Unsure why that is.

In any case, what I can't seem to figure out is how to actually remove an account from the Eligible Accounts section of the Family Settings page. Can anyone help?

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I'm not sure (how) you can remove a single account from the list.
The config.vdf seems to contain this data (see below), but I'm not sure in which format (it's not username, AccountID, Steam ID, Steam2 ID, or Steam3 ID).


So, a cruder method is to remove all names/eligible accounts from Steam:

  • Shut down Steam completely;
  • Go to your /Steam/config folder (by default C:\Program Files\Steam\config);
  • Create a backup of the file config.vdf and delete it, or simply rename it;
  • Restart Steam.

You will have to log into (and possibly verify) your account again, but now the names should be removed from the Eligible Accounts section.

Steam Settings Family subsection showing names under Eligible Accounts Steam Settings Family subsection with no Eligible Accounts in that section

However, once you make changes to the Manage Family Library Sharing menu, the names will pop up again under Eligible Accounts, even if they've been revoked (but perhaps if all devices belonging to that user are revoked as well it's different, however, I cannot check this myself).

You could also turn Authorize Library Sharing on this device (just above the Eligible Accounts section, see images above) off to remove any name, but, obviously, this won't help if you're still sharing your library or plan on doing so.


I believe the Eligible Accounts section was added much later than the Manage Family Library Sharing section, and simply offers an improved (because easier) way to turn library sharing on and off.
Here is an Arqade question about revoking access that seems to corroborate this hypothesis.

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  • Eligible accounts afaik is basically a list of all accounts that have logged into this computer before, plus those who have been shared... Unless you're in a LAN cafe, which in that case is always cleared (I think?).
    – aytimothy
    Commented Jul 22 at 0:53
  • @aytimothy It's not - at least, not always. I saw a screenshot of someone with a huge list who mentioned it was because of LAN games :) And it's not necessarily this computer, it can also be those you have logged into (I think basically any device another person has logged into, then you, then (perhaps) the other again).
    – Joachim
    Commented Jul 22 at 7:59
  • Please remember that this is in Beta; Please report the request to Valve as well.
    – Cole Busby
    Commented Jul 26 at 18:45
  • @ColeBusby What is in beta, and what request should be reported to Valve? Did you mean to ping the querant?
    – Joachim
    Commented Jul 26 at 22:54
  • Family libraries are in beta. You should report that you cannot remove an account from the family and yes, it should have pinged the question maker
    – Cole Busby
    Commented Aug 3 at 21:21

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