7 Ways to Fix Discord Overlay Not Working
Discord has features on par with other messaging apps, but it’s particularly useful for gamers. The app has an overlay feature for accessing chats quickly, allowing you to switch between channels and DM threads, even toggling it off and on. The overlay works fairly well in some games but has trouble in others e.g., the Windows 10 version of Minecraft. If you find the Discord overlay not working, we have troubleshooting tips to try to resolve the issue.
Key Points
You can troubleshoot Discord overlay issues by:
- Disabling Overlay for all or select games
- Run the app as the administrator
- Make sure your antivirus isn’t causing problems
- Disable the Hardware Acceleration feature
- Reinstall the app
- Change the overlay hotkey
Method 1: Disable Discord Overlay
To disable the Discord overlay for any and all games, follow these steps;
- Open the Discord app.
- In the column on the bottom left, click the cogwheel to access Discord’s settings.
- Scroll down and select Game Overlay.
- Turn the ‘Enable in-game overlay’ switch off.
- Launch the game the overlay has been showing up in, and check if it’s still there. If it is, quit and re-open Discord.
- Once turned off, you can turn the overlay on again from a game by tapping the toggle keyboard shortcut, which is Shift+` by default.
Method 2: Disable Discord Overlay for Select Games
The Discord overlay can be disabled on a per-game basis. It doesn’t enable itself for new games even if it is enabled by default.
- Open Discord.
- In the column on the left, click the cogwheel button at the very bottom to access Discord’s settings.
- On the Discord settings screen, scroll down and select Registered Games
- You will see all your games listed under ‘Added Games.’ Next to each game is a monitor icon. If the icon is gray, the overlay is enabled for that game. Click the monitor icon, and it will turn red with a slash across it. This indicates the overlay has been turned off for that game.
- Launch the game the overlay was appearing in, and it will no longer appear.
Method 3: Run Discord As The Administrator
Another way to troubleshoot Discord Overlay not working, is to run the app under administrative settings. Here’s how:
- On your PC desktop screen, go to your Discord shortcut
- Right click the shortcut and choose Properties
- A pop-up window will open, go to the Compatibility tab
- Select the Run this program as an administrator box
- Select OK
- Open Discord and see if this fixes the overlay problem when you play your game
Method 4: Temporarily Disable Antivirus
Some 3rd-party antivirus apps can cause errors with Discord or other applications. If you’re asking, Why is my discord overlay not working?, it could be your antivirus. The best way to find out is to temporarily disable it. Here’s how:
For Windows:
- Go to your system tray (taskbar) and click the ^ symbol, usually near the clock
- Your antivirus should be visible, as well as other programs. If not, you can access your antivirus through the search bar
- Right-click your antivirus
- Choose Shut Down Protection, Disable Protection, or whatever equivalent your antivirus shows
- Confirm with Yes or Ok if prompted
- Don’t forget to re-enable it when you’re done using Discord
For Mac users:
- Press the spacebar and Command button at the same time
- Fill in the name of your antivirus
- From there, click on the antivirus to get to the settings
- Look for options such as Disable, Turn off, Stop, etc. Every antivirus is different
- Don’t forget to turn it back on when you’re done using Discord
Method 5: Disable Discord’s Hardware Acceleration
[file:disable-hardware; alt:Hands on keyboard and mouse]
Hardware Acceleration is a way that Discord can make things run smoother through the use of your sound card and GPU. Unfortunately, it can sometimes cause the Discord Overlay not working error. Here’s how to disable this feature:
- Open Discord
- Click on the Settings cog wheel
- Scroll down to Advanced and select it
- Toggle the Hardware Acceleration option to off
- Restart your game and see if the problem is resolved
Method 6: Reinstall The Discord App
If bugs or glitches in the app itself are causing the problem, you can try reinstalling it. Here are the steps:
- Push the Window and R keys at the same time (Win + R)
- This opens the Run window. Type Control Panel and hit OK
- On the upper right, choose to View by Category
- Go to Uninstall a Program
- Find Discord in the program list
- Right-click Discord and choose Uninstall
- Restart your computer
- Go to Discord’s website and install it
- Open the Discord app
- Add your game to Discord
- Enable the option for in-game overlay
- See if this fixes the problem
Method 7: Change The Discord Overlay Hotkey
The hotkey for your overlay is defaulted to SHIFT+ (CTRL+ is another default for many). If pushing the hotkey doesn’t work, it may have been changed by someone else or by accident. Here’s how to troubleshoot it:
- Open Discord
- Go to the Settings cog wheel
- Scroll down to Game Overlay
- The assigned overlay hotkey will be shown
- If the hotkey doesn’t match what you thought it was, try using the displayed hotkey to open the overlay
- You can also change the hotkey by going to the Toggle Overlay Lock on the top of the screen
- Click the keyboard icon to open the Edit Keybind option
- Click Edit Keybind and “record” the new hotkey by pressing it on your keyboard
- Be sure to choose a key or combination that isn’t already commonly used for Discord shortcuts
Conclusion
Discord has some great features that target gamers, but they can also take away from the game-play. The overlay is great for a co-op or multiplayer game, but single-player games may not require a chat application to be present. Thankfully, Discord has a per-game control for managing the overlay, so you can customize as you see fit.
