Discord Won’t Open? – Try these 9 Easy & Simple Solutions

Discord app doesn’t open for users. If you double-click the executable file, nothing will happen. For some users, it does open but nothing appears on the screen, just a plain background appears on the screen and nothing else. A lot of users try to open the app after a reboot or a complete reinstall but that doesn’t seem to solve the issue as well.

Why won’t Discord open?

We don’t know for sure what stops Discord from opening but what we do know is that the discord app does run. If you open the task manager, you will the discord.exe in the running processes. So, we know that the discord runs but it just doesn’t show up on the screen. For people who are seeing just the grey screen, it might be because of discord trying to log you in and it’s stuck in the login process. So, the discord app doesn’t show anything on the screen because, well, it can’t log in.

The good news is, whether your discord is not opening at all or it is just showing the blank screen, there are solutions for this problem. There are various different solutions so keep trying the methods until the problem is solved

1. Task Kill Discord (32 bit) from Task Manager

As mentioned above, the reason that the discord app isn’t showing up isn’t that it hasn’t started. The app does indeed start but it is usually running in the background. So, locating the app, stopping the process and restarting the app has solved the issue for a lot of users.

Here are the steps for killing the background discord process

1. Press and hold CTRL, SHIFT and Esc (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC). This should open the task manager
2. Select the Process tab
3. Scroll through the list and find the discord.exe.
4. Select the discord.exe and click End Task

5. Although there should only be one discord.exe process but some users had multiple discord.exe processes. So, repeat this process for all the discord.exe process in that list.

Once done, close the Task Manager and relaunch the app. It should work fine now.

1.1. Task Kill (alternative) via CMD

This method is an alternative method of method 1. For some users, the first method doesn’t work. If you are one of those users then follow the steps given below

1. Hold Windows key and press R
2. Type cmd and press Enter

3. Type this command and press Enter
   

   taskkill /F /IM discord.exe

This will kill the discord.exe task. Once done, relaunch the discord app and everything should work as it should.

2. Log in to Discord via Web

The problem sometime might be caused by the session/cookies as well. A lot of users have solved the issue by signing in from the web version and then trying the Windows app version. In fact, most of the users didn’t even have to log in to the web version of Discord. The Discord app issue resolved as soon as they opened the discord web version.

So, run the Discord app on the desktop. When it doesn’t start or shows up the grey screen, run the web version of Discord and sign in. This will most probably reset the account on the Discord app and it should start running normally.

3. Uninstall Discord and Delete AppData Contents

If the above methods didn’t work then it’s time to uninstall and reinstall the Discord App. However, simply uninstalling and reinstalling the app doesn’t seem to solve the issue. For a lot of users, uninstalling the app and then deleting the contents of the AppData seemed to work. Once the contents are deleted, the reinstall of the Discord app will resolve the issue completely.

So, here are the complete steps that you need to perform.

1. Hold Windows key and press R
2. Type appwiz.cpl and press Enter

3. Locate the Discord app from the list. Select the Discord app and click Confirm any additional prompts. Note: If you a message that Discord can’t be uninstalled because it already is running then follow steps in method 1 or method 2 to kill the discord task. Once done, uninstall the app afterwards.

4. Now the Discord app should be uninstalled.
5. Hold Windows key and press R
6. Type %appdata% and press Enter. If it doesn’t work or you can’t see any folders then do the following: Hold Windows key and press E > Select View from the top > Check the option Hidden items > Try to do step 1 and 2 now

7. Locate the Discord folder, right-click it and select Delete. Confirm any additional prompts

8. Once done, reboot your computer

Reinstall the Discord App once you log in again. This reinstall should fix the issues that you were having with the app.

4. Disable Proxies

Discord often doesn’t play well with Proxies and VPNs. Therefore, if you have implemented a VPN or are using a proxy Discord might malfunction and it can also prevent Discord from connecting. Due to this, it might not start properly. It is recommended that you disable all proxies/VPNs and try to open the application again.

5. Adjust the Date/Time on your PC

It does sound weird to think that the Discord application might have a relation with the Date and time settings but it is true. Changing the Date/Time settings to automatic have fixed the problem for a lot of our users. Therefore, in this step, we will be changing the date/time settings to automatic. For that:

1. Press the “Windows” + “I” button simultaneously.
2. Click on the “Time and Language” Option.

   

3. Click on the “Set Time Automatically” toggle to turn it on.

   

4. Launch the Discord app and check to see if the issue persists.

6. DNS Reset

In some cases, the DNS settings get corrupted over time and prevent certain applications from making contact with the internet. If the DNS settings are interfering with the Discord application if might not work properly. Therefore, in this step, we are going to be resetting the DNS configurations by flushing the DNS. For that:

1. Press the “Windows” + “R” keys simultaneously.
2. Type in “cmd” and press enter.

   

3. Type this command and press enter.

   ipconfig/flushdns

Wait for the process to be completed, launch the discord application and check to see if the issue persists.

7. Disabling Link Blockers for Redirects through Web

Another common issue which we came across was where users were unable to open Discord because they had link blockers active on their computer. Whenever you open the web version and join a server, the computer prompts you to open the link with the Discord application. If you have link blockers active and you click the link for the redirect, the entire process gets blocked and you are unable to open discord.

Here, you can check your browser for any extensions which might be active and blocking the outgoing links. If you are using Google Chrome, paste the following code in the address bar and press Enter. Disable all Link/Adblockers.

chrome://extensions

Furthermore, you should also check your Antivirus software and see if it is blocking the links from the web to open the Discord application. You can also temporarily disable your Antivirus software and see if this does the trick.

8. Run Discord as Administrator

If your Discord installation is located on the system drive, it might require some additional permissions from the administrator of the computer to execute some functions on the storage device. Therefore, in this step, we will be granting Discord with admin permissions and check if doing so fixes this issue and launches it properly. In order to do that:

1. Right-click on the Discord shortcut on the desktop and select “Open File Location” or navigate to the installation folder of Discord yourself.

   

2. In the Discord folder, right-click on the Discord.exe file and select “Properties” from the list.
3. Click on the “Compatibility” tab in the window that opens up.
4. Check the “Run this Program as an Administrator” option and then click on “Apply” to save your changes.

   

5. Once you have saved your changes, click on “OK” to close out of Discord.
6. Check to see if doing so has fixed the issue with Discord.

9. Installing Discord PTB

If the methods above didn’t work out for you, you can try using another build for Discord and check if the issue still persists over there, as it’s another build it will have its own data and cache so it won’t interfere with your normal Discord. However, you will have to login again. Also, these builds are officially available on Discord’s website so you don’t have to worry besides some general bugs and glitches as it’s a public test beta. To Install Discord PTB, follow these steps:-

1. First of all, you will have to download Discord PTB setup from this link.

   

2. Once Discord PTB setup is downloaded, Simply open the setup and install Discord PTB.
3. Once you open PTB Version it should update and everything from there is just like using normal Discord.
4. Simply login into your account and check if the issue still persists for you.

Note: In addition to this, you can try running an SFC scan and a DISM scan to ensure that there aren’t any system files that are out of place. Also, perform a clean boot to prevent third-party services and apps from interfering with Discord and check if it runs properly. If it does, you can try enabling them back one by one and check which one makes the issue come back.