Discord has been gaining massive popularity among the gaming community in recent years. With new features added every few months, it is becoming a reliable communication tool even for businesses.
The Discord app makes it easy to conduct virtual meetings, livestream your gameplay, share screens with your friends, or video call your loved ones. However, you may occasionally run into problems with Discord.
One common issue that frustrates gplayers during gaming sessions or people attending a meetup is when Discord's microphone stops working.
Let's examine some commonly used methods for fixing your microphone and other voice-related issues in Discord...
1. Restart Your Device
When we face technical issues with apps or devices, restarting the device you're using to run the app is our first response. Most of the time, this fix works like a charm.
Upon restart, all backend drivers and registry files are created afresh, along with removing temporary files created during the previous runtime. Typically, this will fix a wide range of issues.
Therefore, before you try any other fixes, consider restarting your device to check if that resolves the issue. Otherwise, continue with the other fixes listed below.
2. Test Your Microphone
If you are using an external microphone as an input device, make sure that it is not faulty. Trying it in another app or with another device may help you determine whether the hardware itself is causing the issue.
If your microphone is the culprit, change it. If not, move on to the rest of the fixes.
3. Restart or Logout of Discord
Instead of diving into more complicated fixes, log out of Discord and restart your application. At first glance, it may sound innocuous, but in the vast majority of cases, this step will resolve the issue.
- In the lower left corner, tap on User Settings (gear icon).
- Scroll down to the bottom and tap on Log Out from the left sidebar.
Log out, close the app, and then log back in again.
Doing this alone can solve some issues, but it doesn't always work. Move on to the next fix if that's the case.
4. Reset Discord's Voice Settings
Discord comes with a handy feature that allows you to reset the voice settings to default. This usually resolves most voice-related issues within Discord. Therefore, try resetting the voice settings to see if that fixes the problem.
Here is how you can reset voice settings in Discord:
- Click on Settings (gear icon) in Discord.
- Navigate to the Voice and Video settings in the App Settings.
- Tap Reset Voice Settings at the bottom of the page.
5. Give Discord Access to Your Microphone
Rarely, microphone access permissions limit the desktop apps' access to the microphone. If you have turned off automatic permission to use the microphone, Discord may not have access.
This is how you can enable microphone access for not only Discord but also all other apps:
- Use the Windows search box to open Settings.
- Navigate to Privacy in Settings.
- Tap Microphone in App permissions under Privacy settings.
- Activate the toggle for Allow apps to access your microphone.
If the microphone access was already on, continue implementing the remaining fixes.
6. Change the Input Mode
If your microphone still does not work after following other fixes on the list, try changing the input mode in the voice settings to Push to Talk.
Push to Talk settings require you to press a specific keyboard key to allow the microphone to transmit audio. This setting helps solve most microphone problems, including the broken mic input and cracking voice recording, so it may also work in this case.
Here is how you can change the Input Mode in Discord:
- Tap on Settings (gear icon) at the lower left corner in Discord.
- From the left sidebar, select Voice & Video under App Settings.
- Change the input mode from Voice Activity to Push to Talk.
- To activate Push to Talk, set any keyboard key as a Shortcut.
Although this fix may solve the problem, it has its quirks from time to time. So, if the microphone problem goes away, you can change it back after some time.
7. Disable Exclusive Mode in Windows
In Windows, there is an exclusive mode that allows a single device to take over the whole sound driver.
This mode could cause issues with your microphone, preventing other apps from using it if a priority app has control. So, to out rule this cause, follow the below steps to disable the exclusive mode.
- Search for Sound Settings in the Windows search bar at the lower-left corner and open it.
- Tap on Device properties after selecting your input device.
- In the Related Settings, click on Additional device properties.
- Navigate to Microphone Properties and select the Advanced tab.
- Uncheck the box for Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device in the Exclusive Mode settings.
- To apply the changes, tap Apply.
8. Update Your Audio Drivers
You can also check the system's audio drivers. You will face issues not only with Discord but also with other apps if the problem is with the drivers. Blue and black screen errors, cracking voices, and poor quality recording are all signs of outdated drivers files.
Your device likely has a specific driver for input audio devices that you can update to get your microphone working again. However, depending on the type of device you are using and the sound drivers it has, you may not find the main driver that needs to be updated. If this is the case, update all audio drivers regardless of which device you are using. In case the issue persists, you can reinstall all of them.
We will guide you through updating the Inter(R) Audio Display driver using the steps below. You can follow the same process to update other drivers as well.
- Use the Windows search box to look for Device Manager.
- Navigate to the Sound, video, and game controllers settings in Device Manager.
- Open Intel(R) Display Audio and go to the Driver tab in the pop-up menu.
- Click on Update Driver, and you are good to go.
- Click on Search automatically for drivers and wait for the process to complete.
The name of the device and drivers will differ depending on the hardware you use.
9. Reinstall Discord
If none of the above fixes works, you can reinstall the Discord app after uninstalling it. Sometimes, the hidden corrupted files prevent the app from functioning correctly. Often, it is overlooked as the root of many problems.
Here is how you can uninstall the app:
- Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features.
- In the app list, find Discord.
- Tap Uninstall by left-clicking on it.
- Reinstall Discord from the official Discord website.
Solve Voice Related Issues in Discord
The fixes in the list will solve not only the microphone problems but also other voice issues.
Discord is a great app that is hard to leave once you get used to it. But if you grow bored with it, there are many alternatives you should definitely look into.
