Discord Overlay Not Working Windows 11 [8PROVEN Fixes!]

Is your Discord overlay not working for some reason? Discord is one of the most efficient social platforms though at times issues can arise in the application.

This problem has been reported by several number of Discord users via social media and if you are in the same bracket simply don’t panic!

In this guide, we have researched and explained 8 proven and up-to-date ways on how to fix Discord Overlay Not working Windows 11.

Discord Overlay Not Working Windows 11

Discord overlay not working on Windows 11, it is probably because you have not enabled Discord overlay, third-party applications like antivirus or windows defenders firewall might be blocking it, very many applications running in the background, or accidentally you might have moved the overlay settings out of the screen.

Enabling discord overlay, running discord as administrator, clearing all apps in the background, and disabling anti-virus & hardware accelerations first without forgetting to restart your PC can help solve the problem.

Discord Overlay Not Working Windows 11- Troubleshooting Steps

Fix 1: Enable Overlay in Discord

The first thing you need to do is to check if you have enabled in-game overlay here is how to do it.

Step 1: Open Discord click on the gear icon to open user settings. This should be on the right side of your avatar.

Step 2: On the left panel, select overlay. Make sure that toggle next to enable in-game overlay is turned on.

Step 3: Select Registered Games from the left panel, click on the monitor icon to turn it on.

Step 4: If you don’t see your game in the list, click on ADD it and select your game’s name from the drop-down menu.

Step 5: Finally click add game, check if the Discord overlay works by running your game. If not please proceed to the next fix.

Fix 2: Run Discord As Administrator

If you don’t run discord as administrator you may encounter this discord overlay not working issue.

Try running your Discord as administrator to see if this problem will persist.

Here is how to do it;

Step 1: On your desktop, right-click the shortcut of Discord and then select properties.

Step 2: In the popup window under compatibility tab, tick run this program administrator.

Step 3: Finally click apply and then click OK.

Step 4: Kindly, check if the fix solved the issue by opening Discord and running the game again if not proceed to fix 3.

Fix 3: Turn off Hardware Acceleration In Discord

Enabling hardware acceleration on Discord would also cause Discord overlay not to work.

You can try to turn off hardware acceleration to solve the problem.

To get things moving the right direction;

Step 1: Open your Discord and click the gear icon to open user settings.

Step 2: On the left panel, click appearance.

Step 3: Scroll down in the right panel and you should be able to see Hardware acceleration, it should be under the advanced section.

Step 4: Toggle off Hardware accelerations, you will most likely see a confirmation box, all you need to do is to , click OK.

This will reboot the Discord app.

Fix 4: Add Discord to the Antivirus Whitelist

Antivirus software or windows firewall will mark the Discord overlay as suspicious and doesn’t allow it to run.

So you need to add discord to the antivirus whitelist.

Here is how to do it.

Step 1: Press windows key + I to launch the settings and click on the update and security option.

Step 2: From the left panel, click windows security button and then choose Virus and threat protection.

Step 3: Select the manage settings button under the Virus and protection settings heading.

Step 4: Scroll down under the exclusion tab, click on the add or remove exclusions button.

Step 5: Click on the add an exclusion option and select folder from the type.

Step 6: Add Discord’s installation folder and save it.

Fix 5: Adjust Discord Overlay Position

This could be because you may have moved the overlay settings out of the screen.

Change the Discord overlay position and here is how to do it;

Step 1: Now you need to close the game and open up Discord.

Step 2: On your keyboard, press ctrl+shift+I simultaneously or at ago. Java script console will launch automatically.

Step 3: Tap on the double arrow (>>) on the console menu tab and select application.

Step 4: Double click location storage, and then on https://discord.com just below it.

Step 5: Find Overlay store or Overlay storeV2 file.

Step 6: Right click it and tap on delete.

Fix 6: Turn on Overlay Hotkeys

This can be done by activation of a new hotkey.

Step 1: Open Discord and enter user settings.

Step 2: On the left side panel, click on the game overlay section.

Step 3: Configure your hotkeys on the TOGGLE OVERLAY LOCK OPTION on the right side.

Restart the game to see if the problem was solved.

Fix 7: Disable All Background Programs

Background programs might be consuming a lot of memory.

This will affect the working of Discord overlay.

To overcome this;

Step 1: Press ctrl + shift + esc to open up our Task manager.

Step 2: Select the programs you want to end.

Step 3: On the lower left corner, select the end task button.

Fix 8: Reinstall Discord

If you have tried all fixes above but the issue persists, try reinstalling Discord.

If you don’t know how to do this here is how;

Step 1: On your Keyboard press the windows key + R at the same time to open the Run Dialog.

Step 2: Type Control and press enter to open the control panel.

Step 4: Double click Discord to uninstall it.

NOW just restart your PC. The next thing you want to do is to download Discord from its official website (LINK: https://discord.com/download) and then install it on your PC.

Make sure to enable the in game overlay feature for your game. You can go back to fix 1 to see how to do it.

Conclusion

Discord Overlay not working, Don’t worry! There are a number of proven troubleshooting fixes you can try out:

1. Enable Overlay In Discord
2. Run Discord as administrator
3. Turn off Hardware Acceleration In Discord
4. Add Discord to the Antivirus Whitelist
5. Adjust Discord Overlay Position
6. Turn on Overlay Hotkeys
7. Disable All Background Programs
8. Reinstall Discord

Feel free to leave us a comment of which fix worked best for you, but incase none of them did, kindly reach out to Discord Customer Service link: https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us.

Read also about Discord: How to Turnoff Discord Notifications, How to Ban Words on Discord, How to Fix BetterDiscord Plugins Not Working, How To IP Ban Someone On Discord