6 Ways To Fix Discord Mic Not Working Issue in Windows 8.1, 10 & 11

Is your discord mic not working? Are you looking for a solution to fix it? Read this guide to learn how to troubleshoot, fix & resolve the problem.

Discord is quickly becoming the preferred communication platform for gamers. Still, recently, some of its users have been complaining about many instances where the discord mic stops working randomly—so much so that it becomes very difficult for them to communicate with their friends. This is especially frustrating in a gaming community where discord is used as the primary form of communication.

If you are one of these people and are wondering how to fix Discord not picking up the mic when you try to use it, then this guide will help you. In the following sections, I will walk you through the process of diagnosing why is my discord mic not working and the steps you can take to fix it for good.

6 Ways to Fix Discord Mic Not Working

Discord is like a social networking platform built considering the needs of the gamers. You, as a user, can create your own community or can join others. You can even communicate with your community members via messaging, voice, or video chat.

Unlike Teamspeak or mumble, which are self-hosted messaging and voice platforms, Discord is hosted on its own servers and also by Microsoft. To use it, all you have to do is sign up. It’s a 100% free platform and gives you the freedom to have unlimited connected members. Additionally, according to the official statement, Discord is going to remain free for everyone. Furthermore, they have no plans to change their operating policy in the coming future.

Everything sounds great, right?

Well, the only problem is that some Discord users are experiencing problematic glitches. Issues with the push-to-talk, mic, OS compatibility, etc., are rising, and their customer support rarely responds to support requests.

In fact, many users have been complaining that they are able to listen to their team players while playing games, but teammates aren’t able to listen to the user. I have also experienced the same while I had a multiplayer match with my friend. I have also noticed that I am facing Discord mic issues only when I use its official desktop application. If I use the web-based app, then everything seems to be working perfectly fine.

If you are also facing the same issue, don’t worry. Here in this guide, I will walk through six working methods that will help you to fix this problem.

I decided to create this troubleshooting guide for my audience because I have faced this issue personally. I know how frustrating it can be when you are participating in challenging gameplay, then suddenly you realize that your mic is not working.

1. Run With Administrator Privilege

Administrative privilege is a unique authentication system in Microsoft OS. It helps to protect user computers from malicious files that could automatically gain administrative access and start corrupting system files.

Now whenever any application needs to access any privileged API to perform its tasks, Windows will instantly give you a pop-up message to confirm the activity. Only when you confirm, that application can start and access the restricted APIs.

One of such privileged APIs in Windows OS is UDP in Winsock. Discord needs access to this API to transmit recorded audio from your computer to your channel. It also means that you might need to give administrative access to all those applications installed on your computer, which you use to stream audio-visual data from your computer.

So if your Discord not picking up the mic, then you can try starting it with administrative privilege. There are two different ways to do it, and you can check the steps below.

The First Method:

1. Right-click on Discord’s shortcut icon on your computer.
2. Choose the “Run as administrator” option.

Remember, you will have to repeat this every time you start the application. If you always want to open Discord with administrator privilege, then follow the second method listed below.

The Second Method:

1. Right-click on the Discord shortcut icon on your desktop.
2. From the menu, click on “Properties.”
3. Click on the “Compatibility” tab.
4. Finally, click on the “Run this program as an Administrator” option and click on the “Apply” button.

2. Allow Discord to Use Your Microphone

If you want to fix Discord mic not working issue, you will have to first find out if your operating system is giving specific permission to the Discord app for processing audio data from your mic. Now depending on the operating system on your machine, you can follow the directions below:

For Windows 10 & Windows 11 Users:

1. Open the “Settings” app,
2. Navigate to the “Privacy” panel,
3. Scroll “App permissions” on the left-hand side panel to find “Microphone” settings,
4. Make sure “Mic permission for Discord” is toggled on (which is denoted by blue color).
5. All your Discord mic issues on Windows must be resolved by now.

For macOS Users (Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave):

1. Click on Apple Menu and then System Preferences,
2. Now under “Security & Privacy,” click on the “Privacy” tab,
3. From the sidebar, click on the “Microphone” option,
4. At this point, macOS will list every app that requires a mic to perform its functions,
5. Just toggle the checkbox for Discord,
6. As soon as you are done, your mac Discord mic not working problem should be solved.

Note: If the problems still persist, please move to the next method discussed in this guide.

3. Log Out And Then Log In If Discord Not Detecting Mic

One of the oldest tricks of fixing any website-related issue is logging in and then logging out. Even the savviest computer expert can’t always explain how this method somehow miraculously fixes weird issues in web applications and sites.

Just as this solution can be the fast and easy way to fix other computer-related issues, it may also be the perfect fix for discord mic not working.

Often the simple act of logging out of Discord and then logging back into your account might fix the mic-related issue.

To accomplish this, all you need to do is go to your user settings which are typically found in the bottom left corner of your screen. You may have to scroll down until you find the log-out button, but once you do, you have to simply click on it and confirm that you do indeed want to log out. On occasions, it may be necessary to repeat this process more than once to get the result you’re looking for.

After you log out, you will need to log back in. To do this will require that you reinsert your login credentials. Once you are logged back in, simply do a quick check to make sure that your buddies can hear you.

4. Discord Not Picking Up Mic? Make Sure You Choose The Right Mic

It is very common today for the average user to have multiple mics connected with their system. This means that when we use various software or apps, they can choose which mic it will use. Commonly there will be a default mic, and if you are using a different one, you’ll have to set that to be used. Sometimes, however, we think we have a particular mic set as the default, and yet software and apps can choose a different mic.

If you find that your mic seems to be working in every way except that your buddies can’t hear you when using Discord, then make sure that it is selected to use the correct mic. If you find that it is set to use the built-in microphone and you wanted to use the microphone on your headset or desktop, you simply choose the one you want to use, which should remedy the problem. It’s easy to overlook this possibility because the average user will assume that everything is set up for the microphone they are trying to use.

To check which microphone you are set to use, click on the icon for user settings. Then look for voice and video. There you will see a drop-down menu that allows you to select the microphone you want to use. Click on the drop-down arrow and then just choose the mic that you want to use with Discord. Don’t forget to max out your volume slider before you exit.

5. Adjust The Automatic Input Sensitivity Setting

Sometimes the automatic input sensitivity gets disabled. It could be that you clicked on that by accident, or there could be some other reason that it became set to the disabled state. In either case, you might need to enable it to fix the mic not working on Discord.

This is one of the common mistakes new users usually make while trying to adjust their “Voice” related settings and accidentally disable the “input sensitivity” option.

When you disable this option, you get the option to adjust the sensitivity of your microphone. Now, the problem is that this function is sometimes buggy. So, most of the time, manual settings don’t work, and thus you can’t record or stream your audio.

To fix this, you can follow the steps listed below.

1. You need to open up the Discord app on your computer.
2. At the bottom of the left-hand side of the screen, you will see the Discord settings option denoted by a gear icon (). Click on this gear icon.
3. You need to click on the “Voice and video” option under the “APP SETTINGS” section.
4. You will now have to scroll down until you see “input sensitivity.” Once you find it, click on the toggle button. Please check the image attached below for clarification.

Once you’re done following and implementing the above-listed steps, you can test your mic by talking to it.

If the “bar” glows with green color, then it means your mic is working perfectly fine, and now you can record and stream your audio.

6. Fix Discord Mic Not Working by Resetting Your Voice Settings

On many occasions, Discord won’t pick up the mic if you connect a new headset or microphone to your system. One of the best ways to fix this problem is by resetting your voice settings. If any of the methods listed above didn’t work, you could follow this method, and hopefully, it will fix all your problems.

To reset voice-related settings, kindly follow the steps listed below.

1. Remove any plugged headset, earphones, or microphone from your computer.
2. Open up the Discord application installed on your computer with administrative privilege.
3. At the bottom of the left-hand side of the screen, you will see a gear icon (). Click it!
4. Scroll to the “APP SETTINGS” and then click on the “Voice and Video” option.
5. Now, you need to scroll down till you find a red-colored “Reset Voice Settings” option. Once you find it, click on it.
6. After clicking, you will get a pop-up message asking you to confirm your action. Click on the “Okay” button to confirm the purge of local mutes and local volumes.
7. Now re-connect your mic and check if it is working.

Final Check for External Factors (Checklist):

There are many factors that can stop Discord push to talk from working on your machine. Here is a quick checklist of such factors:

1. Custom Firewall privacy settings can disable Discord push to talk.
2. The antivirus with a built-in firewall may have altered the mic app setting to better protect users’ privacy, thereby blocking the Discord app push-to-talk functionality.
3. Something might have interrupted the connection between your input device and PC.
4. Scan your PC for malicious programs.
5. Disable any automatic updater program running on your PC.
6. Check if your audio driver is up to date.
7. Make sure the selected mic is the default device.
8. The voice setting in Discord might be off.
9. The exclusive mode might be enabled in your audio settings via which Discord is not functioning correctly.
10. Completely uninstall the Discord app and then re-install it after restarting your PC.

As you can see, there are plenty of other reasons behind your Discord mic not working problem – and that’s why it’s it’s recommended that you follow the above-listed steps carefully. Hopefully, one of them will surely resolve your issue.

The Conclusion

Discord is a great app for gamers and it’s very popular among them. It’s free to use, easy to set up, offers plenty of features, and has an active community of users that you can connect with. Unfortunately, problems like Discord mic not working are inevitable.

If you too are facing this issue, then you should follow the steps listed above to fix it. Hopefully, they will work for you as well. If not, then please feel free to let us know what other possible solutions you’ve tried so far (in the comments section below). We’ll be happy to assist!