From the past few years, Technology is paving the way for the gaming industry. Of all, the internet was the first breakthrough for the gaming industry and has to lead the way to connect people with gamers on the other side of the world.
The demand for new features in different games is increasing. Among all the new features, Discord is a feature designed for gamers to interact with each other is skyrocketing.
Itis an all in one platform which allows gamers to chat and talk with other players when you are in a game. But, nowadays it is seen that Discord Overlay is not working and has become troublesome to many users as it prevents from communicating with their friends in a game.
How to Fix Discord Overlay Not Working?
There is a number of possible reasons why you are facing the Discord Overlay not working error. So, to fix it below are the solutions listed.
Read Also:
Solution 1: Reboot Your System
Rebooting or Power Cycling is nothing but restarting the computer by closing all the applications and games properly. Though it sounds silly but doing so you might get rid of the glitch that causes overlay not to work.
Other than that, rebooting a system can even resolve many issues such as Internet connectivity problems, slow browser response, software issues, and also fixes the Failed to Initialize Renderer error.
This solution does amazing work but if still Discord overlay is not working, then apply other solutions.
Solution 2: Check if The Option is Enabled
Before trying to get into other fixes just check if you have enabled Discord Overlay option in any game from its settings list. Here are the steps to enable the option –
Step 1: Open the Discord app from the desktop shortcut or from the Start menu.
Step 2: Click on the user settings and choose Overlay from the left navigation pane.
Step 3: Now, click the toggle to enable the option ‘Enable in-game overlay’ and save the settings.
Step 4: Next you need to go to the game settings and make sure that overlay is turned on for it.
Step 5: Save the game settings and launch the game.
Solution 3: Enable or Change the Hotkey
Perhaps, you have not assigned a hotkey so your Discord Overlay is not working. Even though, if you have assigned make sure that it does not conflict with some other hotkey in the game. So, to enable a hotkey to follow these steps –
Step 1: Open the Discord app from the desktop shortcut or from the Start menu.
Step 2: Click on the user settings and choose Overlay from the left navigation pane.
Step 3: Now, assign a new hotkey from the menu bar which is located just beside the enable in-game overlay option.
Step 4: Save the settings and re-launch the game.
Step 5: The last thing you need to do is use the newly assigned hotkey while playing the game.
Solution 4: Change the Overlay Position
Discord Overlay is not a working issue that may also occur due to an overlay position. Since different games run at different resolutions and variations so it is likely that you have accidentally moved Overlay off the screen.
Thus, due to the change in the Overlay position, error may occur. So as to change the Overlay position, apply the following changes –
Step 1: Close the game and open the Discord app from the desktop shortcut or from the Start menu.
Step 2: Now press the key combination Ctrl + Shift + I while you are in the discord. This should open a javascript console window.
Step 3: From the new console window, select the application option from the right side of the window.
Step 4: Click on the Local Storage option and expand the list.
Step 5: Now, look for the Overlay option, select it, and delete it by clicking on the delete option.
Step 6: Close the Discord app and restart the game. With this, the Overlay is set to default and you must be able to run the game.
Solution 5: Run the Discord App as an Administration
This is another solution that solves many gaming issues. You need to make sure that you are running Discord Overlay and playing the chosen game as an administrator. You can set this option by following the below steps –
Step 1: Right-click on the Discord app icon in the Start menu to open the context menu. If you cannot find the file, you can go to the original executable file of the Discord file which is present in C drive.
Step 2: Then click on Run as Administration option in the context menu. Now, a dialogue box will appear asking you to make the changes in the Discord app and select the ‘Yes’ option.
Step 3: Close all the windows and re-launch the game to check if your Discord Overlay issue is fixed or not.
Solution 6: Check if Firewall or Antivirus is Blocking the Overlay
A Firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access from a private network. Every message that enters or leaves the internet compulsorily passes through the firewall.
This firewall examines all the message and blocks the one which is below specified security criteria. While Antivirus is a feature that provides security to the entire system from internal attacks like malicious files or software.
Overall, Firewall and antivirus are mechanisms that act as a barrier for incoming traffic and protect your system.
Most of the time, Firewalls and Antivirus recognize Overlay as a suspicious process and prevent it from running. Though it doesn’t pose any threat, this firewall is said to block the Overlay when it is enabled.
To enable it back, open the Antivirus software or firewall from the settings. If you find Discord related entry as blocked then unblock it and add it as a trusted program.
You can also fix this issue by temporarily disabling the antivirus software or firewalls and check if this solved the problem.
Solution 7: Reinstall or Update the Discord App
This is probably another option that one can try that is by either updating the Discord app or reinstalling the App.
Step 1: Navigate to the Control Panel in your Windows Operating System and select the “Apps and features” option.
Step 2: In the list of installed apps, search for Discord app. Right-click on it and uninstall it. Now, go through the complete installation process by accepting the request of full uninstallation.
Step 3: To delete the leftover files, go to C drive’s program files folder and delete it from there. This will delete all the files permanently.
Step 4: Now, go to the official discord website. Then, select the latest version of the app which is appropriate to your Operating System.
Step 5: Before installing the app we recommend you disable the firewalls or antivirus that you have installed.
Step 6: After the installation reboots the system and then open the Discord app. Now, check whether the enable in-game Overlay option is selected or not.
Step 7: The last thing you need to do is, check the hotkey for activating the in-game overlay.
Step 8: Run the game using the same hotkey and see if you can get an overlay or not.
Solution 8: Close Conflicting Applications
After all these solutions, if you are still facing these problems with Overlay, then try closing all the background apps and programs. It is because that other apps which are running on your system may interfere and cause Discord overlay not to work.
Solution 9: Adjust Your Display Scale
Another problem might be raised if you have the display above 100%. Due to this, you will not be able to locate Overlay. Here are the simple steps to fix it.
Step 1: Go to Settings on your Windows computer.
Step 2: Once you are into it, search for Display in the search bar.
Step 3: From the right side of the Window, expand the drop-down box under the Scale and layout category.
Step 4: Set the layout to 100% and run your desired game.
Solution 10: Disable Hardware Acceleration
In short, the hardware was designed to perform some functions faster than software running on the CPU alone. This hardware acceleration may cause a computer Discord Overlay not to work.
Apart from Overlay, in few computers, it even can cause your laptop’s battery to drain faster and Chrome browser or games to lag or freeze. This is because every computer is different in terms of GPU or driver associated with it.
So, the best thing to do is to disable it and run your game. The following are the steps to disable it –
Step 1: Open the Discord app from the Start menu or from the computer shortcut.
Step 2: Click on the user settings.
Step 3: On the left panel, click Appearance and then turn off the toggle next to Hardware Acceleration.
Step 4: Now, click OK when presented with a confirmation prompt.
Step 5: After turning off the Hardware Acceleration, relaunch the game, and see if the issue has resolved or not.
Solution 11: Use a VPN Instead of a Proxy
VPN or Proxy is an application which reroutes your internet traffic through a remote server and hides your IP address.
However, we advise using a VPN rather than a proxy to fix Discord Overlay not working error because VPN is prone to hacker attacks more easily. So, here are the steps on how to disable proxy in your system.
Step 1: Click on the Start menu, type Control Panel in the text field, and press Enter.
Step 2: In the Window that opens, click on Internet Properties.
Step 3: Go to the Connections tab in the new pop-up window that opens and click on LAN Settings.
Step 4: Then just uncheck the box of ‘Use a Proxy Server for your LAN’.
Step 5: Click OK which will save your changes to the settings.
Solution 12: Add Discord to the Whitelist of your Third-party Antivirus Application
In any Windows Operating System, by default Windows Defender is antivirus software that protects your system against viruses, malwares, spyware, and network threats. It is a free security service that works without any additional third-party antivirus application.
But, most of the people prefer high rated third party antiviruses because it has more virus detection capability than Windows Defender.
Many users reported that they encountered errors like “Service registration is missing or corrupt” after the installation of third-party antivirus.
This third-party antivirus unknowingly said to block Discord Overlay and other applications. So as to fix the issue, the only solution is to add the installed antivirus to the whitelist.
Solution 13: Check for Software Interruption
The Discord Overlay issue may also arise when there is an interruption from other applications that are running on your PC. Especially, the applications which have Overlay features tend to interfere with the original Discord app. So, try temporarily disabling them to see if this issue persists.
Read Also:
Conclusion
Discord being highly beneficial software to all the gamers for communication purposes, it became famous in just a short span of time. So, if you are a gamer and also a victim of the issue “Discord Overlay nor Working” then just go ahead and try out the above solutions.
