I’m unsure if this is a Linux specific issue but when I add or remove a hard drive steam will unlink family share which is a hassle to relink, I know it’s a niche question but does anyone know if reformatting a disk or partition will also cause an unlink? Thank you in advance.
Changing hardware definitely unlinks it as I’ve had to relink it every time I remove or add a hard drive or ssd.
I’ve had issues with family link staying linked on a steam deck with zero hardware changes, so it could be unrelated to your hardware changes fwiw.
My steam deck also unlinks family libraries with almost every os update. It might be an issue of overzealous hardware validation but it could also just be a bug.
I’ve changed my OS three times since I set up my main games SSD (where my steam library lives) and with each OS change, I copied my .steam folder from home to the new home folder. Had zero issues with family sharing.