How To Fix Discord Overlay Not Showing Issue

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Discord is a popular VoIP software that is specific to the gaming community. It allows players to communicate on a chat channel using voice, text , images, and videos. It is available on various platforms such as Windows, MacOS, Android, Linux, and web browsers. Although this is a solid platform there are instances when certain issues can occur which we will be addressing today. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the Discord overlay not showing issue.

How To Fix Discord Overlay Issue

Before performing the recommended troubleshooting steps for this particular problem I suggest that you try restarting your computer first. This will refresh the operating system as well as remove corrupt temporary data and is quite effective in fixing most software related issues.

There are several factors that can cause this particular problem ranging from a misconfigured overlay setting to interference from antivirus software. Listed below are the recommended troubleshooting steps you need to do to fix the problem.

Turn on the overlay setting of Discord

The first thing you will need to do is to make sure that the game overlay setting is enabled. If it is turned off then you will definitely be experiencing this problem.

  • Open Discord
  • Click on the User Settings (gear icon). This should be on the right side of your avatar.
  • Select Overlay from the left pane
  • Turn on Enable in-game overlay. It should be on the top of the right pane
  • Select Game Activity from the left pane
  • Make sure the overlay is turned on for the specific game you are playing. The game should be in a green box in the right pane if the overlay is turned on. You should also be able to see the status “Overlay: On” in front of the game you are playing right now. If the overlay isn’t turned on for your game then click the monitor button in front of your game and this should turn on the overlay.
  •  you don’t see your game in the game list then you can add your game. Click on Add it! Link from the right pane and select your game’s name from the drop-down menu. Click Add game. Once it is added make sure to turn on Overlay for your newly added game.

Check if the Discord overlay issue still occurs.

Turn off hardware acceleration of Discord

One factor that can cause this problem is if hardware acceleration is enabled. It’s therefore a good idea to turn off this setting.

  • Open Discord
  • Click on the User Settings (gear icon). This should be on the right side of your avatar.
  • Select Appearance from the left pane
  • Scroll down in the right pane and you should be able to see the Hardware Acceleration It should be under the Advanced section
  • Toggle off Hardware Acceleration
  • You will see a confirmation box. Click Okay. This will reboot the Discord app

Check if you are still having issues with the Discord software.

Make sure the display scale is set to 100%

Some users have experienced this problem when their monitor is not set to the recommended scale of 100%. If you have your monitor set to a custom scale of 125% or 150% then you should try setting this to 100%.

  • Hold Windows key and press I
  • Click System
  • Select 100% (Recommended) from the drop-down menu under the Scale and Layout section

Try to check if the Discord  problem still occurs.

Try moving the overlay

Since the overlay can be moved around try repositioning its location

  • Close the game and open Discord
  • Press and Hold CTRL, SHIFT, and I keys (CTRL + SHIFT + I) while you are in Discord. This should open a javascript console on the right side.
  • Click on the >> arrow icon in the top right corner of the javascript console.
  • Select Application from the newly created list
  • Double click Local Storage from the newly created left panel (or click the arrow beside the Local Storage)
  • You should be able to see a newly created entry under the Local Storage. This new entry should be called https:\\discordapp.com. Click it
  • Right click on OverlayStore (or OverlayStoreV2). It’s in the middle of the Keys column.
  • Select Delete.
  • Restart Discord.

Check if the Discord overlay problem still occurs.

Reinstall the Discord app

If the above steps fails to fix the problem then you should uninstall the app from your computer then install a fresh version from the official website.

  • Close Discord’s window and stop running it on the computer
  • Right-click on the task bar, and select Task Manager
  • Check all running processes in the background, and make sure Discord’s associated process has been disabled.
  • On the Task Manager, and go to the Startup tab.
  • Select Discord on the list, and click on Disable button.
  • Click on the start button then click on Settings.
  • Go to the Apps section.
  • Find Discord on the list, and highlight it.
  • Click on the Uninstall to start the removal.
  • Discord removing process will start at the background, wait for a while until the app’s name disappears from the programs list.
  • Reboot the computer.
  • Go to https://discordapp.com/
  • Download the Discord installer.
  • Click on the downloaded executable file to install it.

Check if the  issue still occurs.

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