Fix: Discord’s Voice Chat and Overlay Stops Working in Games

Users have reported that various Discord features simply cease to work after joining a game. These features include audio, microphone, Discord Overlay, and other important features. After leaving the game, users can restart the call or rejoin a channel and the problems usually disappear. However, problems continue to occur after opening the game again.

There have been many different methods users came up with in order to resolve the problem and many of them were actually successful and they managed to keep Discord working even after opening the game. Follow the solutions we have prepared!

What Causes Discord to Stop Working in Game?

There are several different causes for this issue. Deducing the correct cause can actually help you resolve your problem faster and it can point you towards the most helpful solution. Check out the full list we have prepared below:

Solution 1: Let Apps Use Your Microphone

If you are struggling with audio and microphone issues when opening a game while inside the Discord program, you should definitely start your troubleshooting with this method. This solution is the simplest and it can save you hours of effort so make sure you don’t skip this method when troubleshooting the Discord not working problem.

Windows 10 Users:

1. Click the cog icon in the lower-left section of the Start menu in order to open the Settings. You can also search for it.

   

2. Scroll down until you see the Privacy section and make sure you click on it. At the left side of the window, you should see the App permissions Scroll down until you reach Microphone and click on this option.
3. First of all, check if the Microphone access for this device option is on. If it’s not, click on Change and set the slider to on.

   

4. After that, switch the slider under the “Allow apps to access your microphone” option to On and scroll down in the list of installed apps on your computer to locate Discord. Switch the slider next to the Discord entry on the list to on.
5. Reopen Discord and check to see if the problem persists.

Older Versions of Windows:

1. Right-click on the volume icon located at your taskbar and choose the Sounds If this icon is not located at your taskbar, you can locate Sound settings by opening Control Panel, switching the view to Category and selecting Hardware and Sound >> Sound.

   

2. Check to see if your microphone is enabled under the Recording Switch to this tab by clicking at the top of the window and locate the Microphone you are using. It should be located at the top and be selected.
3. Click on it once and click the Properties button at the lower right part of the window. In the Properties window which opens, check under Device usage and set the option to Use this device (enable) if it wasn’t already and apply the changes.

   

4. Navigate to the Advanced tab in the same properties window and check under Exclusive mode.
5. Uncheck the boxes next to the “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” and “Give exclusive mode applications priority”. Apply these changes as well and repeat the same process for your Speaker device in the Playback tab before you close these windows. Reopen Discord and check to see if the error persists.

   

Note: Even if you are a Windows 10 user, you should still try out the second set of steps as they managed to solve the problem for some Windows 10 users when the above has failed.

Solution 2: Disable Discord Overlay

Discord Overlay is, unfortunately, a source of many different gaming-related problems and disabling it completely is a good thing to do if you face this problem when using Discord. Many users have confirmed that simply disabling Discord Overlay managed to resolve their problem!

1. Open Discord by double-clicking its shortcut from the Desktop or by searching for it in the Start menu and clicking the result which will appear.
2. When the Discord home menu opens, navigate to the lower left part of the window and look for the cog icon next to your username. It should say User Settings when you hover above it.

   

3. Navigate to the Overlay tab under the App Settings section in User Settings and slide the slider to the left next to the Enable in-game overlay option. Apply the changes you have made and check to see if Discord now works after opening a game!

Solution 3: Run Discord as an Administrator

Running Discord with administrator permissions can resolve the problem if there are issues with sound or microphone as it will provide greater access to sound devices and the Discord executable will be given priority when asking access to speakers and microphone. Make sure you follow the steps below in order to give the Discord executable administrator permissions.

1. Locate the Discord shortcut or .exe file on your computer and open its properties by right-clicking its entry either on the Desktop or the Start menu or the Search results window and choose Properties from the pop-up context menu.
2. Navigate to the Compatibility tab in the Properties window and check the box next to the Run this program as an administrator option before saving the changes by clicking OK or Apply.

   

3. Make sure you confirm any prompts which may appear which should prompt you to confirm the choice with admin privileges and Discord should launch with admin privileges from the next startup.

Solution 4: Update Sound Device Drivers

Updating the driver is a great method for resolving many different problems regarding audio problems and this problem is no exception. If none of the methods above were able to help, uninstalling the current driver and replacing it with a newer one should do the trick. Follow the steps below!

1. Click the Start menu at the lower-left part of the screen, type in “Device Manager” afterwards, and select it from the list of available results by simply clicking the first one.
2. You can also press the Windows Key + R key combination in order to bring up the Run dialog box. Type in “devmgmt.msc” in the dialog box and click OK in order to run it.

   

1. Since you want to update the driver for your sound devices, expand the Sound, video and game controllers Right-click on each entry in the list and choose Update driver from the context menu.
2. Choose the Search automatically for updated driver software option from the new window and wait to see if the utility is able to find newer drivers. Repeat the same process for all devices.

   

3. Check to see if Discord starts working properly while in-game!