[Xbox Game Pass] Restore PC family sharing with parental controls and save data integrity

UPDATE - As of this morning, after an update and very quick testing, it appears (for now) they have reversed the changes to sharing gamepass with your family. Games are booting again with no more kicking to desktop or erasing saves. Still no contact from the complaints team. I can only assume the push back they have had has been quite large and the threat of an Ofcom investigation probably tipped them as the advice given to remove parental controls which curcumvents age verification. I also need to mention I went on an AI deep dive to try and find any record of Microsoft saying this was the way to share Game Pass on PC with family as argued this was the official workaround that Microsoft was giving to its customers for years via support pages. now it looks like they are actively scrubbing it from the internet, AI shows the remanants of the entries, when attempting to view them, it gives you this message. “The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.” On a good note my sons Deep Rock save was restored thanks to the genius of the Coffee Stain developers. Sadly his Hollow Knight save could not be recovered. Hello everyone, For anyone who has been using Xbox Game Pass on PC and sharing it with their family for years, I’ve got bad news. I’ve filed a complaint with Microsoft (which took some effort), and I’ve got chat logs to back this up if anyone wants to see them. Some of the responses I got were honestly patronising. I’m also reaching out to IGN, GameSpot, and anyone else who will listen. A few days ago, my son came to me upset because he and his sister could no longer play their Game Pass games like Deep Rock Galactic, Hollow Knight or even roblox via the xbox app on PC. For years, our family has used the PC Game Pass family sharing setup so we could play together. It’s the whole reason I even subscribe. Normally, my kids log into Windows with their own MS accounts, I log into the Microsoft Store with my MS a/c, and they use their own Microsoft account on the Xbox app, That way I can still use Microsoft’s parental controls like screen time limits and content filters. After hours of troubleshooting, I contacted Microsoft support. The rep confirmed that this no longer works — **by design.** The latest update blocks that setup completely. Now, to make it “work,” you have to sign into Windows and the Microsoft Store with *your* account, and then set the Xbox app to your child’s account. That means you lose all parental controls, timers, and content restrictions. Worst of all, it **wipes your child’s game progress** because their Xbox profile no longer matches the Windows and Store login. My son lost his 100% save on Hollow Knight and all his progress in Deep Rock Galactic. It’s gone — permanently. The rep even said that since it syncs to the cloud, there’s no way to get it back. When I asked about it, I was told these changes are **intentional** and that Microsoft is “reviewing whether they will be permanent.” No one was warned about this sudden change of service, and it’s left a lot of families like mine completely blindsided. It’s absolutely disgusting that the only workaround is to remove all child protections, or to buy multiple Game Pass subscriptions for the same household. I honestly don’t know what Microsoft is thinking here. I’ve already lodged a formal complaint, and I’d strongly encourage other parents to make noise about this too. The worst part is explaining to my son, who is autistic and worked so hard for those achievements, that none of this was his fault - it was Microsoft’s. I really hope this gets traction and that gaming outlets pick it up soon. Edit. I’ve now raised this with Ofcom here in the UK, since it falls under the Online Safety Act. The person I spoke with said this could actually lead to enforcement action, because Microsoft’s so-called “solution” basically tells parents to turn off every bit of online protection just so their kids can keep playing. That means removing all content filters, timers, and restrictions and it even circumvents the need for any age verification.