Xbox Family Sharing Conumdrum causing me headaches. Looking for a workable solution.

Hello, Paul!

All content bought with the main account (yours, since it's your home xbox) will work for every user on the same console. The content that your kids bought under their account will only work if they are logged into these accounts. For example, one of your kids bought Minecraft with his account that isn't the home xbox, so in order to access the game he must be logged in but any other account won't be able to play it.

So every content bought under accounts that aren't the main account on that xbox can't access it.

I hope it helps,

Felipe.

You pretty much have the gist of how the Game Sharing (Home Xbox) works.

Let me see if I can make it a little simpler for you. 

No matter what console a profile/account is signed into it will always be able to play its digital games and use any of its subscriptions. 

Each Profile can set one console at a time as their home xbox and any other profile can then play that profiles digital games and use any of its subscriptions without that profile being signed in at the same time. 

Each profile can switch which console is set as its home console ONLY FIVE times a year. This is on a rolling schedule from the date that the first home xbox was setup not a calendar year. 

So in your situation: 

Your account has the subscriptions and some of the game purchases.

Whichever console you have set as your profiles home console your sons can play your games and use your subscriptions without you being signed in. 

On any other console your account would have to be signed in at the same time in order for them to play your games or use your subscriptions. The thing with this is that you can only be signed into one Xbox One console at a time. (this would not affect your Home console because you do not have to be signed in there for them to play your games). So theoretically one son could be playing one of your games on the home console without you being signed in and if the other son wants to play one of your games on the NON-Home Box they would need to sign in your account first then switch accounts to their account. 

As far as the Forza 4 Situation goes If the son that owns the add-ons makes the console that his brother wants to play on as his home console then the brother that does not own the game and add-ons wants to play them he can but again only on the home Xbox of the brother that owns the add-ons other wise we are back to the owner having to be signed in at the same time situation. 

Thanks,

I think I understand the home console concept. What I don't understand is how Xbox Live Gold helps the sharing situation, or how a Family Account is of any use at all. 

What I could so with the Consoles is as you suggest and make the Home Console of Child 1 the Console and that Child 2 uses (and vice versa), and that should solve the issue of each of them playing games they each purchased on either console. The issue is that I am the one with the Xbox Gamepass Ultimate Subscription, hence I am the only one who can install the games (from Game Pass), unless the kids decide to buy a game outright under their own accounts.

It sounds like what I need to do is buy at least one of the kids an Xbox Ultimate Subscription, plus the current separate one for myself. I can then designate the second console as my Home Console and that is where I can install games that I don't want the kids playing? That might be workable as we haven't gone too far down the rabbit hole yet, but my elder son wants to buy a few games to own so I want to sort that out before it gets too complicated.

At the moment, on the second console, I just sign on my account and my son can play all the game there, and the first console is my home console. That seems to work because when both kids are playing games, I obviously can't be playing one as well. I have also created a secondary account for myself so I install all the games under my master account, but I play using a different account. That way I can use either console without it signing out the account that owns the installations. It's messy, but it seems to work.

I do understand were your coming from . I do think Microsoft need to bring some sort of family subscription back. 

Or work it that along as the xboxs are all in same house / ip address , and they are on family,  then they should be able to share 🤔

That's why it's so confusing. I'm not fussed whether I can share the content or not (in terms of paying for it). All I want is for any person in the house to be able to play whatever is installed on any Xbox in the house. If it means I have to buy multiple subscriptions, I can deal with that. But I assume that would mean I need mutiple accounts because you can't subscribe to the same thing twice under on account.

I don't think that is too much to ask.

A Famly Subscription would be ideal to stop all this uncessary mucking around with "Home Consoles".