How to Fix It When Discord Won’t Open

When Discord doesn’t open, you lose all the features offered by desktop and mobile apps like the system push to talk feature, so it’s important to restart it as soon as possible.

What causes Discord to not open?

The most common problem that prevents Discord from starting up is that it never fully shuts down. When you quit Discord, it sometimes leaves any remaining background process running in the background. This ensures that the app doesn’t reopen until you finish the process.

Other problems can also prevent Discord from opening, such as internet connectivity problems, virtual private network (VPN) and proxy server incompatibility, incorrect system settings, or even corrupted data in temporary files or the Discord application itself.

How to fix Discord won’t open

If you’re having trouble opening Discord, follow these steps to restart it.

1. Force quit the Discord job. When you close an app like Discord, some parts of the app may still run in the background. You won’t see Discord in the systray or system tray, but the rest of it may still work. When that happens, it’s impossible to open a new copy of Discord without getting rid of the leftovers first.

   In the Windows task manager, look for any Discord occurrences, select them, and then click End Task .

   If you are using Discord on macOS, you can use Force Quit to get rid of the malfunctioning Discord instance. You can also kill the Android app if you are having issues with Discord on Android. If you are having issues with Discord on Android and iOS, restarting your device may also help.

2. Delete temporary files. Corrupted temporary files can prevent Discord from opening and running normally. To fix this, you need to delete all files in the AppData and LocalAppData folders.

3. Try the online version of Discord. Navigate to discord.gg and log in. If the web client is working fine, there is probably no problem with your internet connection. In this case, it is more likely that there is a problem with the Discord application on your computer. However, if your web client doesn’t work, you probably have an internet problem.

4. Disable VPN or proxy server. If you use a VPN or connect to the internet through a proxy, this may prevent Discord from working. To rule this out, disconnect from the VPN or disable the proxy server, restore your normal internet connection, and then see if Discord is working. If so, try changing the VPN server you connect to or try different proxy servers.

   To disable or disconnect from a VPN, use a VPN app.

   To disable proxy servers on a Windows computer, go to control panel > Network and Internet > Internet Options , Select Connections tab and click LAN Settings . If the box next to Use a proxy server for your LAN is checked, uncheck it. Click OK and then apply .

5. Clear your DNS. If you’re recovering from an internet connectivity problem, or you’ve just disabled your VPN or disconnected from your proxy server, you may need to flush your DNS to see the results.

6. Correct the date and time settings. If you have manually set your computer’s date and time and your settings are not accurate, it may prevent the Discord form from working properly. Instead of setting things up manually, set the date and time to automatic. After doing this, restart your computer before trying to open Discord.

7. Scan your computer for malware. Malware can prevent certain applications and utilities from running, and it can also prevent applications from running as an unintended by-product or by using too many system resources. Using a high-quality anti-virus or anti-malware application, scan your computer for infections and fix whatever you find.

8. Check for Windows updates. In some cases, running an outdated version of Windows may cause the application to behave unexpectedly. If this is the cause of the problem, downloading and installing any available system updates will fix the problem.

   If you have trouble opening Discord on your Mac, check for macOS updates.

9. Check for Discord updates. Go to discord.com/download and download the latest version of the software for your operating system. The installer should update the application if it is out of date.

10. Uninstall Discord and perform a fresh installation. If nothing else works, you’ll need to uninstall the app, download the latest Discord installer, and reinstall it. If the problem was caused by corrupted data in the Discord app, everything will work again.

What if Discord still won’t open?

Since the Discord app is basically just a wrapper for the web client, any disruption to the web service can prevent the app from opening. This means there might be an issue at the end of Discord that you’ll have to wait for them to fix itself, or you might have a problem with your internet connectivity. In that case, you should check if Discord isn’t working for everyone or it’s just you.