Fix: Discord Screen Share Audio not Working

Discord is no doubt, the most used VoIP application. Mostly, the users are gamers who make use of the app during gaming sessions to communicate with other players. Discord had since made its way to many operating systems and platforms.

One nifty feature which the application just introduced was the Screen Share functionality which enables the users to share their screen with their friends. This might include the game as well as other applications such as Chrome etc. We received several reports from users where the Audio feature inside the screen share utility was not working. In this article, we will go through all the possible causes and ways to fix the issue.

What causes Audio not to work in Discord Screen Share?

We looked at several cases and after troubleshooting and closely looking at conditions, we came up with the conclusion that this issue was caused due to several different reasons. All of them might not be applicable in your case because each computer configuration is different:

Before we start with the solutions, make sure that you have the credentials required for login. You might be asked to log into the application from scratch if we reset the application. Also, administrative access is a must.

Solution 1: Granting Elevated Access

Before the Screen Share with audio feature was introduced, Discord worked properly without any issues at all. However, since this feature means that more resources will be used of your computer which also has the concern for privacy, there are some cases where the application will not be able to work in a normal mode. In this solution, we will navigate to Discord’s executable and grant it administrative rights.

1. Press Windows + E to launch the File Explorer. Now navigate to the directory where Discord is installed on your computer. The default install location is inside Local Disk C’s Program Files.
2. Once you are in the installation directory, right-click on the application’s executable and select Properties.
3. Once in Properties, click on the Compatibility tab and check the option which says Run this program as an administrator.

4. Press Apply to save changes and exit. Now try running Discord again and check if the issue is resolved.

Solution 2: Adding your Activity

Discord usually automatically detects which activity you are performing and functions according to it. However, there are some instances where this isn’t the case the application confuses when you are screen sharing between games and applications. This case became so common that the application developers released a feature where you can select the specific application or game which you want to focus on. We will be using that feature and see if this solves the issue.

1. Launch the Discord application and navigate to its Settings.
2. Once in the settings, click on the entry of games at the left navigation bar.

3. You can go to Game Activity and Add the application in which the audio is not sharing properly while sharing the screen. As you can see in the screen above, once you add the application, you can easily focus on it using the application.

Solution 3: Using Push to Talk

Discord has an option to automatically detect whenever there is an audio activity and transmit it accordingly over the internet. However, with the ‘beta’ feature of screen share with audio, this can cause several problems and create issues.

The alternative is to stop the automatic detection of audio activity and switch to push to talk. In this method, you would have to manually push a specific key (specified in your application’s settings) for audio to be captured and transmitted so beware of the drawback. You can always undo the operation once Discord gets stable enough.

Solution 4: Avoiding Full Screen

There is a unique bug which we came across where the screen share utility was malfunctioning whenever the user’s focus application/game was in the full-screen mode. This somehow conflicted with Discord on permissions and access to the game and doesn’t let the audio transmit properly.

Hence you should try to use the application/game in a minimized format. Make sure that you restart your computer before using this solution. You can easily change the settings inside the game and set the video option to Windowed mode whereas, in applications, you can easily adjust the sides.

Solution 5: Checking Affected Application

We also came across several cases where the application which was getting affected was either not compatible with Discord’s screen share with audio or was causing various bugs and issues. One such example is Mozilla Firefox.

The mere reason why applications like these don’t work properly is that they use multiple processes. So to sum up, the process which owns the graphical window is not the same process which produces the sound. Discord extracts the sound from the window which is producing the graphical window, hence, the screen share with Audio doesn’t work on them.

In this case, there is nothing you can do except wait until a proper fix is released by the team or go for alternatives.  

Solution 6: Reinstalling Audio Drivers

Audio drivers are the main components connecting the hardware on your computer with the operating system and in it, the applications (such as Discord). We came across several cases where because of bad or outdated drivers, the application was not transmitting the audio properly with the screen share utility. In this solution, we will navigate to the device manager and install the latest drivers.

1. Press Windows + R, type “devmgmt.msc” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
2. Once in the device manager, expand the category of Audio inputs and outputs, right-click.
3. Right-click on the sound hardware and select Uninstall device.

4. Now right-click anywhere on the screen and select Scan for hardware changes. The computer will not scan for any hardware not installed and will find the sound module. It will automatically install the default drivers.
   Once the default drivers are installed, restart your computer properly. Now use the Screen Share utility and check if the issue is resolved. If it isn’t, update the drivers.
5. Right-click on the driver and select Update driver. Now you can use Windows update to update the driver.

If the issue is still not solved, you can navigate to your manufacturer’s website and download the latest drivers from there. Then, you just have to install the executable and the latest drivers will be installed. For example, if your motherboard is of ASUS, you can navigate to ASUS’s download page and install the latest drivers from there.

Note: We recommend that you update all of the drivers. This is very important as we saw several cases where because of even one problematic driver, the application was not working.

Solution 7: Reinstalling/Updating Discord

As mentioned throughout the article, the screen share utility combined with audio is more or less, a beta feature. There hasn’t been much rigorous testing of the utility by developers where all cases are accounted for and fixed. Furthermore, according to Discord officials, this utility is only available in the Canary client but will be included in a stable version soon.

So in this solution, you can either wait for the stable version to release or reinstall the entire application.

1. Press Windows + R, type “appwiz.cpl” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
2. Once in the application manager, search for the entry of Discord. Right-click on it and select Uninstall.

3. Now restart your computer completely. Now navigate to Discord’s official website and download the client fresh to an accessible location.

4. Now install the application and restart your computer again. Check if the issue is resolved.

Solution 8: Checking Computer Audio Settings

If all the above methods don’t work and you are not able to transmit audio on any application or game using screen share, chances are that there are problems with your audio devices in your computer. They might not be selected or configured properly.

There are two things which you should check; see if the correct recording input device is selected and then check if Discord is allowed proper access in Microphone settings.

First, we will configure the microphone settings.

1. Press Windows + S, type “Microphone privacy settings” in the dialogue box and open the Windows settings returned in the results.

2. Now make sure that the option for Allow apps to access your microphone is turned On. Furthermore, down below you will see a list of all applications who have access to your microphone. Make sure that the application you are trying to run has its access turned on.

3. Save changes and exit. Now try launching Discord and see if the issue is resolved.

If you are still experiencing issues, follow the steps below to enable the correct recording device.

1. Right-click on the sounds icon present and click on Sounds.

2. Now select the Recording tab and select the correct recording device. In case a wrong one is selected, right-click on the correct one and select Enable and Set as the default device.

3. Save changes and exit. Restart your computer and launch Discord. Check if the issue is resolved.

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