Discord Mic Not Working? How To Fix It | SoftwareKeep

You've just set up your new Discord account and you're ready to start chatting with your friends, colleagues, or a client. You plug in your mic and headphones, but as soon as you try to speak into the mic, you notice that it's not picking up any sound at all. What can you do now?

It’s tough when your mic isn’t working on Discord. You can’t speak, stream with commentary, or use speech-to-text properly. This could greatly hinder your ability to enjoy this otherwise amazing application. Don’t worry — we’re here to help you resolve it in a timely manner.

If this is happening for you, there are a few things that may be going on: whatever the cause is, we’ll help you identify and fix it. Just continue reading and you’ll have Discord up and running with your mic working!

What causes the mic to stop working in Discord?

Why’s the Discord mic not working on Windows 10?

There are a few reasons why your discord mic stops working randomly, including:

Your mic volume is turned all the way down. Use the volume wheel within Discord to raise it.
Your mic is muted. You or a server moderator may have muted your microphone. You can check this by looking in the voice channel and verifying that you don’t have a muted microphone icon next to your display name.
The wrong input is selected. Ensure that you have the correct microphone selected in both your system settings and Discord’s configuration.
Something is wrong with your Discord installation. If your installation is corrupted, it’s possible that your mic won’t be working. This is most common when using secondary versions of Discord, like Discord PTB or Canary.
A hardware issue with your microphone. There’s always a possibility that this problem is not because of your system, but because your mic itself isn’t working. There could be a damaged cable, your USB port malfunctioning, etc.
You don’t have the necessary drivers. If your microphone requires a driver, it’s possible that you didn’t install it, which makes it unable to function when you try to use iron Discord.

Now that you know what might be wrong, it's time to get into the solutions to these problems.

Solved: Mic isn’t working on Discord

The following solutions work on both Windows 10 and 11. If you need assistance with another platform, don't hesitate to reach out! The contact information is at the bottom of this page.

First, Watch Microphone Not Working Windows 11 - Best 10 Methods

Method 1. Unmute your mic in Discord

You might not realize it, but you could be muted on Discord which means you won’t be heard by anyone else, even if you speak. Luckily this is an easy problem to fix.

Open Discord and join any available voice chat on a server. Right-click on your nickname under the voice channel, and click on the Mute option from the context menu if it’s enabled. Doing so will remove the checkmark and unmute your microphone.
If you’re muted on the server, right-click on your username and uncheck the Server mute option. This is only possible if you have the correct permissions in the server — if not, ask any available moderator to unmute you.
In a voice call, click on the microphone icon in the call controls. This should allow you to unmute the microphone and talk if you previously couldn’t.
You can also use the Unmute button in the bottom left corner of the Discord client. It looks like a gray microphone with a red line going through it.

Method 2. Restart Discord and run it as administrator

A common issue is that Discord doesn’t have some of the required permissions to run properly on your computer. In this case, your mic might not work as you’d expect it. Simply launch Discord as an administrator to give it all the permissions needed to run as intended.

Exit out of Discord entirely by closing the application. Open your tray menu in the taskbar, and right-click on the Discord icon. Choose “Quit Discord” to stop the program from running in the background.
Find your Discord launcher. Right-click on it once, and then choose Run as administrator from the context menu.
Click “Yes” if you’re prompted by the User Account Control (UAC) screen. This will allow Discord to run with elevated permissions which may be required for Discord to be able to access your microphone.
You may be required to enter the computer’s administrator password. If you don’t know it, reach out to the person who owns the PC, or learn how to convert your user account into an administrator account.
Test if you can use your mic now.

Method 3. Select the correct microphone in Discord

If you’ve ever used multiple mics, or have a virtual input, it’s possible that Discord is picking up the wrong one. This means that the microphone you’re trying to use is not actually connected to Discord, leading to it not picking up any sound. Here’s how you can get this sorted out.

Open Discord and navigate to User settings > Voice & audio. Click on the drop-down menu under Input Device and choose the correct microphone.
Make sure that the Input Volume slider is all the way up. This will ensure that your mic isn’t muted, or that the volume isn’t too low to pick up.
Close the interface by clicking on the X button or pressing Esc on your keyboard once. Now, you can join a voice call or channel and see if your microphone works.

Method 4. Reset the voice settings in Discord

You might want to consider resetting your Discord audio settings if you’re having trouble with your microphone, or if no one can hear you when you speak on Discord. Make sure to take note of your current configuration in case you need to re-configure how Discord works afterward.

Open Discord
Click the Settings icon on the homepage of Discord
Click User settings > then click Voice & audio.
Click Reset voice settings button.
Once you read the warning pop-up, click Okay if you wish to proceed with the operation. To make sure your voice settings aren’t lost, note down any important settings before you continue!
Reconnect your microphone and try to send an audio message on Discord to see if your Microphone works.
After resetting your voice settings back to default, it’s possible that your mic will start working in Discord. Make sure to test it after reading the instructions for our other methods, too!

Method 5. Allow Discord to use your microphone

Windows 10 has many settings to ensure your privacy. One of these is the ability to block microphone access on a per-app basis. If you or someone else on the computer denied Discord access to your microphone, it won’t work. You can change this easily by completing the few steps below.

Click on the Windows icon in the bottom left of your screen to bring up the Start menu. Choose Settings, or alternatively use the Windows + I shortcut.
Click on the Privacy tab from the available options.
Scroll down in the left-side menu bar, and navigate to App permissions > Microphone. In the right area, you should see a page load with many options related to your mic.
Make sure that the Allow apps to access your microphone toggle is turned On. This will enable Discord to use your mic.

Method 6. Change your input mode

It’s possible that your mic input mode is interfering with Discord’s ability to use the microphone. This is easy to change and only requires a few steps.

Open Discord, and click on the User Settings icon in the bottom-left corner of the application. It’s displayed with a cog icon.
Scroll down in the left-side menu until you see the App Settings section. Here, click on Voice & video and scroll down until you see Input Mode.
Pick either Voice Activity or Push to talk. Try both modes and see if it helps with your microphone not working on Discord.

Method 7. Update your audio driver

A tried and true way of solving audio problems on any computer is by simply updating your audio drivers. Even if you think they’re up to date, a new update may have been released recently, or your driver files could’ve gotten corrupted since you last installed them.

Updating the audio drivers on your PC is simple, and you’ll be able to test whether or not your microphone is working in Discord after acquiring the latest version:

Press the Windows + X keys on your keyboard at the same time, then click on Device Manager.
Expand the Sound, video and game controllers section by clicking on the arrow icon in front of it. Right-click on the sound device you’re using (for example Realtek, Intel, etc.) and choose Update Driver.
Select the “Search automatically for updated driver software” to let Windows look for the latest drivers compatible with your device. Note that you’ll require a connection to the internet in order to perform this step.
Once the new driver has been downloaded and installed, restart your computer. Check if your problem with Discord not detecting your mic, or your mic not working in Discord has been resolved after the new drivers are installed.

Method 8. Turn off Exclusive Mode in Windows

This one Windows feature could be the reason why Discord is unable to use your microphone. If you change it, you might be able to fix the problem.

Click on the Windows icon in the bottom left of your screen to bring up the Start menu. Choose Settings, or alternatively use the Windows + I shortcut.
Use the search bar to look up Sound. From the search results, click on Sound settings. You’ll be redirected to the page right away.
Click on the Device properties link in your Input device section. Make sure that the correct microphone is selected!
Click on the Additional device properties link under the Related Settings section. You can see this on the right side.
In the pop-up window, navigate to the Microphone Properties and switch to the Advanced tab. Uncheck the Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device option in the Exclusive Mode section.
When you’re done, click the Apply button to finalize your changes. Now, you can test if Discord is able to use your microphone without any errors.

Method 9. Reinstall Discord

The last thing we recommend doing if your situation hasn’t improved after completing the method above is just to reinstall Discord. You can try to use the same Discord client you’re running right now, or switch to another one.

Press the Windows + X keys at the same time, and then choose Apps and Features from the context menu.
Find your Discord version from the programs list. Click Uninstall > Uninstall to let Windows remove Discord from your device. Now, you need to delete residual files in your app data folder.
Press the Windows + R keys on your keyboard. This is going to bring up the Run utility. Type in “%appdata%” without the quotation marks and click OK. This will immediately redirect you to the AppData folder in File Explorer.
Locate the Discord folder with the name of your previous installation, then right-click on it and choose Delete. This will remove any residual files left over after the uninstallation has concluded.
Navigate to discord.com and download the latest installer. When it’s done, double-click on the file to begin the installation process.

Bonus: Try installing a different version of Discord

Discord is available in three different versions, two of which are meant for people looking to test early or experimental features. While these versions aren’t as stable as the release version, they can be used as a replacement if you can’t install Discord the traditional way.

Here’s how to get one of the beta versions of Discord:

Choose which version of Discord you want to download, and install the latest release to get the most enjoyable experience:
- Discord
- Discord Public Test Build (Discord PTB)
- Discord Canary
After downloading the installer for Windows, try to launch the installer to see if it works. If you don’t have any luck, try the other versions.

Final thoughts

We hope this article has helped you to understand how to fix your microphone not working in Discord. If there are other issues related to the topic, feel free to reach out and we’ll be happy to help! You can contact us through email, live chat, and phone every day of the week.

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Discord Mic Not Working on Windows 10? Here’s How To Fix It

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