[Fixed] Discord Screen Share Not Working‍

Discord is a great chat app for gaming with your friends or collaborating with your team on an important project. Its advanced functionality features, like custom servers, voice channels, and high degree of personalisation makes Discord a fantastic all-round communication app.

Discord can do a lot more than just send a plain text or a voice message, and one really cool feature that it offers is screen sharing. If you’re gaming, screen share will let you live stream games to your friends, while it can also be an essential tool to brainstorm or present ideas to your team.

However, many users, especially those who run Windows, complain about Discord screen share not working. This is because sometimes, the screen share window might display a blank screen instead of the game.

If you’re one of these users, fret not. In this article, you’ll find a step-by-step walkthrough of 8 fixes you can try out for resolving the Discord screen share not working issue.

Fix #1: Disable full-screen mode in your game

Discord currently doesn’t support the full-screen sharing of applications. Users can only share screens that display as a separate window. Hence, check if the game you’re running is in full-screen mode. If it is, switch to a windowed mode, and re-share your screen on Discord.

Fix #2: Close all 3rd-party background processes

Sometimes running an advanced game along with the Discord client while having other apps running in the background can lead to performance issues, one of them being the Discord screen share not working. Here’s how you can resolve it:

Step 1. Press ‘Ctrl + Alt + Delete’ > ‘Task Manager’

Step 2. In Task Manager, close all other non-essential 3rd-party applications and background processes.

Step 3. Restart Discord screen share

Fix #3: See if you’ve added the game to Discord

Discord doesn’t support the sharing of games if you’ve not added them to your Discord account. Hence, many users find that by adding the game to Discord, they can resolve the Discord screen share not working issue.

To add a game to Discord,

Step 1. Keep the Discord client and the game open

Step 2. Click on the gear icon (Settings) in Discord

Step 3. Click on ‘Game Activity’ in the left sidebar

Step 4. Select the game that you’re playing > click on ‘Add Game’

That’s it, restart the screen share to make sure it’s working fine now.

Note that Discord will automatically search for and display the game name. However, you can also manually add it by clicking on ‘Add it!’ > Type in the name of the game > ‘Add Game’.

To enable game overlay,

Step 1. Click on ‘Overlay’ in the left sidebar of Settings

Step 2. Make sure ‘Enable in-game overlay’ is turned on
Note: You can customise the in-game overlay options such as the Avatar size, Display names, Display users, and Notification position.

Fix #4: Delete the Discord cache folder

If you run a lot of programs, there might be chances where you would experience a caching problem. Often, Discord’s screen share not working can be attributed to a similar caching issue. Hence, you can try clearing the Discord cache folder. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Close the Discord app

Step 2. Right-click on ‘Start’ > ‘Run’
Note that you can also use the short-cuts ‘Windows key + R’ or ‘Windows key + S’ > Type in ‘Run’.

Step 3. Type ‘%appdata%’ in the ‘Open’ field and click on ‘OK’

Windows takes you to a folder called ‘Roaming’.

Step 4. In the ‘Roaming’ folder, delete the subfolder named ‘discord’

Step 5. Restart Discord and check if the screen share is working now.

Fix #5: Run Discord as administrator

This might seem like a trivial fix, but several users forget to grant the Discord client their PC’s administrator permissions. Hence, make sure you’re running Discord and the game as administrator. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open the folder containing the Discord.exe file, or wherever you’ve saved the shortcut (most likely on the desktop)
Note: You can also hit ‘Windows key + S’ on the keyboard, and search for ‘Discord’ in the start menu.

Step 2. Right-click on the Discord app and click on ‘Run as administrator

Step 3. Similarly, right-click on the .exe file of your game and click on ‘Run as administrator’

That’s it, you can now begin screen share on Discord and check if the issue has been resolved.

Fix #6: Disable the ‘Use our latest technology’ option in Discord

Discord’s latest technology settings can sometimes lead to Discord’s screen share not working properly. To resolve it, you must toggle the option off on Discord. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open Discord, and click on ‘Settings’ in the bottom left (gear icon)

Step 2. In the left sidebar, go to ‘Voice & Video’

Step 3. Scroll down to find the ‘Use our latest technology to capture your screen’ option, and toggle it off

Step 4. Restart screen share and check if it’s working properly now

Fix #7: Disable ‘Hardware Acceleration’ in Discord

Discord’s features work best on devices with higher-end specifications. So, if you’re using an old PC or laptop, and you frequently see frame drops, try turning off the ‘Hardware Acceleration’ setting on Discord. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open Discord > go to ‘Settings’ (gear icon on the bottom-left)

Step 2. Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab in the left sidebar

Step 3. Disable the ‘Hardware Acceleration’ setting by toggling it off. Select ‘Okay’ in the confirmation pop-up dialog box.

Step 4. Discord will automatically quit and re-launch when you confirm, so now, you can restart screen share and see if the black screen issue has been resolved.

Fix #8: Uninstall and Re-install Discord (last resort)

If Discord’s screen share is not working for you despite having tried all the above options, you can try uninstalling and re-installing Discord again, as a last resort. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Go to ‘This PC’ > ‘Computer’ > ‘Uninstall or change a program’
Note: You can also use the shortcut ‘Windows key + R’ to bring up Run, and input ‘appwiz.cpl’ in the ‘Open’ field to bring up the Windows uninstaller.

Step 2. Under ‘Apps and Features’, type in ‘discord’ in the search field

Step 3. Select the ‘Discord’ application, and click on ‘Uninstall’

Step 4. After Discord has been uninstalled, open Run > type in ‘%appdata’ > Click ‘OK’

Step 5. Select the ‘Discord’ folder, and delete it

Step 6. Next, open Run again > type in ‘%localappdata’ > Click ‘OK’

Step 6. In the Local folder, select the subfolder named ‘Discord’ and delete it

Step 7. Restart Windows

Step 8. Go to the Discord website, and download the latest version of Discord

Step 9. Download and Install the app by following the directions

That’s it, you’ve now installed a fresh version of Discord. Restart your screen share again and check to see if the blank screen problem has been resolved.