Fix Discord stopped working in game on Windows PC

At times, some features of Discord such as audio, overlay, microphone fail to work when they open a game. But when they close the game and join the call, it works just fine. In this article, we are going to talk more about this particular issue and will see how to resolve it.

Why did my Discord stop working in-game?

There are not a lot of reasons that can trigger this issue. So, rectifying it won’t be a problem. The most obvious cause is the lack of permission. You are either opening the app without administrative privileges or the app doesn’t have permission to access the Microphone. That’s not it, in some computers, this error can be caused by Discord Overlay. We will see why and how hereinafter. You should also check your drivers and make sure that they are perfectly fine. Because, if there is some issue with them, you will face audio-related problems.

Fix Discord stopped working in game

If Discord is not working or has stopped working in-game, then try the solutions mentioned below the resolve the issue. This usually affects audio, overlay, microphone, etc.

Give Discord permission to access Microphone
Disable Discord Overlay
Troubleshoot in Clean Boot
Run Discord as an administrator
Check Discord Sound Settings
Check your game’s settings
Fix your Audio Driver

Let us talk about them in detail.

1] Give Discord permission to access Microphone

You need to make sure that Discord has permission to access your Microphone. if not, you won’t be able to talk in Discord. Although, when you install the app, you grant Discord all the required permissions. But sometimes, because of a third-party app or manually, this permission can be removed. Therefore, we are going to check if Discord has the required permission in order to resolve the issue.

For Windows 11

Open Settings by Win + I.
Go to Privacy & security.
Click on Microphone.
Enable Let apps access your Microphone and then enable the toggle of Discord.

For Windows 10

Open Settings by Win + I.
Go to Privacy.
Click on Microphone.
Enable Allow apps to access your Microphone and then enable the toggle of Discord.

Then restart your computer, open Discord, and check if the issue persists.

2] Disable Discord Overlay

Overlay in Discord is meant to improve your gaming performance, but sometimes, it can cause trouble for you. Therefore, if you have enabled the feature, it’s time to disable it. Follow the given steps to do the same.

Open Discord.
Click on the Cog button to go to its Setting.
Now, click on Game Overlay from ACTIVITY SETTINGS.
Then turn off the toggle of Enable in-game overlay.

Now, restart your computer and see if the issue is resolved.

3] Troubleshoot in Clean Boot

For a lot of users, the issue occurred because of a third-party application. But, most of us can’t fathom which application is it, that’s causing the issue. Therefore, we have Clean Boot. In this, we disable all the processes except the game, and then turn them one by one and see what’s causing the issue. After knowing the name of that app, we can decide what should be done with that program. You can either uninstall it, if it’s not important or disable it when you are playing the game.

4] Run Discord as an administrator

You need to make sure that you are running Discord as an administrator if you want to use it in-game. To do that, just right-click on the shortcut and select Run as administrator.

But if you want to always run Discord as an admin, follow the prescribed procedure.

Right-click on the Discord shortcut.
Select Properties.
Go to the Compatibility tab.
Tick Run this program as an administrator.
Click Apply > Ok.

Finally, relaunch the app and see if the issue persists.

5] Check Discord Sound Settings

Don’t forget to check Discord Voice & Video settings and check if they are set incorrectly. To do that, follow the given steps.

Open Discord.
Go to the Settings by clicking on the Cog button.
Go to Voice & Video option from the left panel.
Then check your INPUT DEVICE and OUTPUT DEVICE to make sure that they are set correctly. Also, check their volume levels.

Then reopen the app and see if the issue persists.

6] Check your game’s settings

There are some games that by default override Windows Settings. So, you need to go to the game’s settings and see if there is an option that’s triggering this issue. Then you need to change it to resolve the issue.

7] Fix your Audio Driver

Last but not least, the issue can be because of Sound or Audio Drivers. They can be corrupted, buggy, or are outdated and to fix them, you need to go reinstall, rollback, or update the driver respectively. So, do that and see if the issue persists.

Hopefully, these solutions have made Discord run in-game.

Why does my Discord audio randomly stop working?

If your Discord audio randomly stops working the cause could be a faulty driver. Improper audio settings or the audio device not being selected as the default can also make this issue appear. You can try to disable Quality of Service on Discord and see if that works.

That’s it!