Discord overlay not working? Let’s fix it with the simplest. Discord is the most famous chat application among gamers. Users can create their servers for their desired games, guild, or just for a club of friends. Whatever the purpose, Discord reveals when you’re online, what game you’re playing, and much more.
It contains both voice and text chat servers that enable gamers to chat while playing their desired titles. It also involves an in-game overlay that can be initiated by pressing the keyboard shortcut while in-game. The overlay executes it simply to respond to messages, switch chat servers, and more.
Discord Overlay Not Working: How to Fix?
If the Discord overlay is not running, here are various fixes you can try.
Make Sure the Overlay is Enabled
The Discord overlay should be granted by default, but sometimes users turn It off, or a glitch causes the overlay to shut off. The first step you should consider is to ensure the overlay is activated.
Press the User Settings symbol in Discord. This is located to the right of your username, beside the microphone and headphone symbols. When this begins, scroll down, click Overlay, and guarantee the Enable in-game overlay slider is turned on.
If turned on, the slider will be green with a checkmark. If negative, it will be grey with an “X.”
Ensure Specific Games Are Enabled
The first level is enabling the overlay for all of the Discord. If that doesn’t fix your problem, make sure the particular game you want to play has the overlay enabled. Navigate to User Settings > Game Activity and look at the list.
Any game that has the overlay turned on will display a grey monitor beside it. You can also hover the cursor of the PC over a game, and it will display Overlay: On or Overlay: Off. The display will have a red “X” through it as well. You can press the monitor to enable the overlay for that specific title quickly.
Run Discord as Administrator
Several potential glitches like Discord overlay, not running can be prevented by opening and running a program as the administrator. This tells your machine the program can be trusted and is free of malware and viruses.
Right-click Discord and select Run as administrator. This will start the application as usual but give it full administrative privileges and circumvent any firewalls or security applications that block it.
Check Your Display Scaling
You can modify the scale of your screen from within Windows settings. While this can cause text and icons more apparent to spot, it can also hide the Discord overlay. Seldom a difference as small as 5% is all it needs to hide the screen. The great news is that you can adjust the scale with just a few clicks.
Navigate to Settings > Display and look for the Scale and layout subheading. Hunt for the option to “Change the size of texts, apps, and other items” and press the drop-down box. Arrange it back to 100%. Wait for a moment to re-scale before testing Discord once more.
Fully Close Out Discord
A typical error among Discord users is that part of the software may remain in the background even after everything else has stopped. If this is the case, Discord might not start when you open it, much less run the overlay.
Start your Task Manager and end all processes involving Discord. Depending on your OS, you will likely see various functions named Discord (32 bit) or Discord (64 bit). End these methods and then re-start Discord.
Restart Your Computer
It’s such an easy step, but one that is often overlooked. Restarting your computer can fix a majority of issues with almost any application. If entirely shutting down Discord doesn’t work, restart your computer before taking any other steps.
Ensure No Other Overlay is Active
Discord isn’t the only application that uses an overlay. Streaming platforms such as OBS and applications like the Xbox Game Bar both generate overlays for use in-game, and sometimes these applications can interfere with Discord’s overlay. Shut down any third-party application that might interfere with Discord.
Once you finish, restart Discord and later test the Discord overlay once more to verify if it’s working.
Disable Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration is a feature in many software that uses resources from the CPU and GPU to verify the application runs more smoothly. This is especially useful on weaker systems that can use a bit of additional help. Though, hardware acceleration can sometimes interfere with Discord’s overlay.
Start Discord and open Settings > Appearance and then scroll down to Hardware Acceleration to disable hardware acceleration. Verify the toggle beside the option is turned off. Not only can this resolve issues with the overlay, but it can also help games run more smoothly while Discord plays in the background.
Re-Install Discord
If all else not works and the Discord overlay is still not working, you can uninstall and reinstall Discord. There is light at risk in this step. Data related to your account, servers, and more is saved server-side, so even if you wipe your computer, you can regain access to that data by logging back in.
Navigate to Control Panel > Uninstall an application and scroll until you find Discord on the list. Press Discord, then right-click and select Uninstall. After you have completely removed Discord from your machine, you can reinstall the application by going to Discord’s website.
Download the newer version of Discord from the site. Don’t rely on an earlier download if you still have one. After you have reinstalled Discord and logged back in, check the overlay.
Discord is an outstanding service that’s worth having, whether you need to play with friends or find a community of people with the same interests as yourself. There are a variety of Discord servers for cooking, retro gaming, and so much more. If you need to make sure you can remain part of the discussion even during gameplay, attempt these different tips to ensure the Discord overlay works.