Discord is the most popular chat program among gamers. Users can create their own servers for their favorite games, for their clan or just for a group of friends. Whatever the reason, Discord shows when you’re online, the game you’re playing, and more.
It contains both voice and text chat servers allowing gamers to chat while playing their favorite titles. It also includes an in-game overlay that can be activated by pressing a keyboard shortcut while in-game. Overlays make it easy to reply to messages, switch chat servers, and more.
If the Discord overlay isn’t working, here are some different fixes you can try.
Table of Contents
Make sure Overlay is on
Discord overlay should be enabled by default, but sometimes users disable it or glitch caused the overlay to turn off. The first step you should take is to make sure the overlay is activated.
Click User Setting icon in Discord. This is found to the right of your username, next to the microphone and headset icons. When this opens, scroll down and click Coating and guarantee Turn on in-game overlays slider is enabled.
If enabled, the slider will be green with a check mark. Otherwise, it will be gray with an “X”.
Make sure specific games are enabled
The first step is to enable overlays for all Discord. If that doesn’t solve your problem, make sure that the specific game you want to play has overlays enabled. Go User Settings > Game Activity and look at the list.
Any game that has overlay enabled will show a gray screen next to it. You can also hover the pointer over a game and it will display Overlay: On or Overlay: Off. The screen will also have a red “X”. You can click on the screen to quickly enable the overlay for that particular title.
Run Discord as administrator
Many potential glitches like the Discord overlay not working can be prevented by opening and running a program as administrator. This tells your system the program can be trusted and is free of malware and viruses.
Right click on Discord and select Run as administrator. This will open the program as normal, but will give it full administrative privileges and bypass any firewalls or security programs that block it.
Check your impression share
You can customize your screen ratio from within Windows settings. While this is possible make text and icons easier to spot, it can also hide the Discord overlay. Sometimes a difference as small as 5% is all it takes to hide the screen. The good news is that you can change the scale with just a few clicks.
Open Settings> Display and find Scale and layout subheading. Find the option to “Change the size of text, apps, and other items” and click the drop-down box. Set it back to 100%. Give the system some time to scale before testing Discord again.
Completely close the discord
A common mistake among Discord users is that part of an application may remain running in the background even when everything else is closed. If that’s the case, Discord may not open when you try to start it, much less running overlays.
Open your Task Manager and end any Discord related processes. You will probably see many named processes Discord (32 bit) or Discord (64 bit) depending on your operating system. End these processes and then start Discord again.
Restart your computer
This is a simple step, but one that is often overlooked. Restarting your PC can solve most problems with almost any program. If disabling Discord completely doesn’t work, restart your PC before taking any other steps.
Make sure no other overlays are active
Discord isn’t the only program that uses overlays. Streaming software like OBS and tools like Xbox Game Bar both create overlays for use in games, and these programs can sometimes interfere with Discord’s overlays. Turn off any third-party software that might interfere with Discord.
Once you do, restart Discord and then test the Discord overlay again to confirm if it works.
Turn off hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration is a feature in many applications that use resources from the CPU and GPU to make sure the program runs more smoothly. This is especially useful on weaker systems that could use a little extra help. However, hardware acceleration can sometimes interfere with Discord’s overlay.
To disable hardware acceleration, open Discord and navigate to Settings > Appearance and then scroll down Hardware acceleration. Make sure the switch next to the option is turned off. Not only can this fix problems with overlays, but it can also make the game run more smoothly while Discord plays in the background.
Reinstall Discord
If all else fails and the Discord overlay is still not working, you can uninstall and reinstall Discord. There is very little risk in this step. Information regarding your account, server, etc. is stored on the server side, so even if you wipe your PC, you can still regain access to it by logging in again.
Open Dashboard > Uninstall a program and scroll until you find Discord on the list. Click Discordthen right click and select Uninstall. After you have completely removed Discord from your device, you can reinstall the program by going to Discord website.
Download the latest version of Discord from the website. Don’t rely on a previous download if you still have one. After you’ve reinstalled Discord and logged back in, check the overlay.
Discord is a great service to have, whether you want to play with friends or just find a community of people with similar interests to you. There are different Discord servers for cooking, playing classic games, and more. If you want to ensure that you can join the conversation even while playing a game, try these different tips to make sure the Discord overlay works.
