3 Ways to Fix Discord When It Won't Detect Games on Windows

If Discord is not showing your game in Game Activity, the problem is usually caused by a setting, a permissions issue, or the way the game is running on your PC. The good news is that this is often easy to fix without reinstalling anything.

This guide walks through three reliable ways to get Discord detecting your games again on Windows, plus a few checks to help you figure out why it stopped working in the first place.

1. Make Sure Game Activity Is Turned On in Discord

The most common reason Discord does not detect a game is that Game Activity is disabled or the game was never added manually. Discord only shows certain games automatically, and some titles need to be added by hand.

1. Open Discord and click the User Settings gear icon near your profile name.
2. Go to Game Activity under the Activity Settings section.
3. Turn on the option that allows Discord to display your current game as a status message.
4. If your game is not listed, launch the game first and then return to Game Activity.
5. If Discord still does not detect it, use the Add it link and select the running game from the list.

2. Run Discord and the Game With the Right Permissions

If a game is running with administrator privileges and Discord is not, Discord may not be able to read the game's process correctly. The same issue can happen the other way around, depending on how the game and Discord were launched.

1. Close Discord completely, including the system tray icon if it is still running.
2. Right-click the Discord shortcut and choose Run as administrator.
3. Launch the game and check whether Discord detects it.
4. If that helps, you can set Discord to always run as administrator by opening its Properties, going to Compatibility, and enabling the admin option.
5. If the game itself is being run as administrator, try launching it normally instead and test Discord again.

3. Check for Overlay, Fullscreen, or Game-Specific Issues

Some games are harder for Discord to detect, especially if they use exclusive fullscreen, anti-cheat tools, launchers, or unusual window modes. In other cases, another overlay or a launcher can interfere with Discord's process detection.

1. Try switching the game from exclusive fullscreen to borderless windowed or regular windowed mode.
2. Disable other overlays temporarily, such as Xbox Game Bar, GeForce Experience overlay, or Steam overlay, and test again.
3. If the game was launched from a separate launcher, make sure the actual game client is running, not just the launcher.
4. Update Discord, because detection issues can sometimes be caused by a bug in an older version.
5. If the game is still not detected, add it manually in Game Activity instead of waiting for automatic detection.

If Discord Still Does Not Detect the Game

If none of the three fixes works, the problem may be specific to that game. Some titles intentionally hide their processes, and some launcher-based games only expose the launcher window instead of the game itself.

• Check whether Discord detects other games on your PC.
• Test the same game after relaunching both Discord and the game in a different order.
• Make sure Discord is not in streamer mode or otherwise restricted by your current settings.
• Confirm that Windows security software is not blocking Discord from reading process information.
• Try a clean reinstall of Discord only if the problem affects many games, not just one title.

Which Fix Should You Try First?

Start with Game Activity settings, because that is the most common and easiest fix. If that does not work, try the administrator-permission check next. After that, look at fullscreen mode, overlays, and game-specific behavior.