Discord is used to play online games with your friends from around the world with communication systems like chat, voice, and video messages and also send images with the help of a discord communication system.
It feels miserable when you receive a message that “discord can’t open” when you are planning to enjoy games with your friends. The first thing that came in mind is “how to fix discord won’t open error” instantly.
Discord software is available to run on Windows and various other operating systems as well as you can also use it as macOS, iOS and Android. This Voice over Internet Protocol application is used by the gaming community since 2015, and it offers many outstanding features. For example, it provides built-in DDoS protection and keeping IP addresses safe.
Moreover, the option to embed media in voice messaging makes it an excellent and reliable platform for communication between client and server. But sometimes, when users try to execute the Windows Discord VoIP application, it doesn’t work even after double-clicking over the executable file.
The significant complexities come it doesn’t work even after reinstalling and rebooting the system. While in some cases, tasks managers show that the Discord.exe file is running. Sometimes the grey blank screen is opened that may be an indication that application is trying to log in your id but failed in doing so.
There may be a lot of reasons behind this problem when you try to log in on Windows. For example, it may be due to interference of another program running parallel in the background, the overloading of cache files on CPU, the synchronization failure between app and game or due to corrupted or missing data.
In this article, we will let you know about different methods to overcome this problem. This will help you to solve the various issues related to Discord software. Let’s take a comprehensive look at them.
Table of Contents
Close All Discord Services & Re-launch
It is one of the most common problems with Discord application that the previous session is not closed correctly or shut down after use. As a result, it runs consistently in the background and creating different problems when users try to start the application for the next session.
To overcome this problem, make sure that Discord application is appropriately closed in the background along with its related services. You can check and do this with the help of Task Manager, and it is also recommended to try this method first of all for fixing the Discord won’t open issue.
Below mentioned are the few simple steps that help to complete this process. Just follow these steps.
Type Ctrl + Alt + Del on the keyboard to go for the option of task manager
Select the task manager from the screen opened
You can also go to task manager with the help of right-clicking on taskbar available at the bottom of your screen and select the task manager from the list opened
After the opening of the task manager, find Discord app under the application tab along with all the related services of the discord app.
Select the entire services one by one and press the end task to discontinue their operation.
Close the task manager after discontinuing all the Discord software services.
After above mentioned simple steps, just refresh the system and reopen the Discord application from the desktop icon or from start menu options as per your settings.
But it is recommended to restart the system before launching the app for better output.
Set Windows Date/Time to Automatic
Here is another quick and straightforward trick to overcome the problem of Discord won’t open error. However, it doesn’t work every time but a lot of users get to benefit from this trick. It works amazingly by just adjusting the Time/Date settings on automatic settings.
Just follow the below mentioned simple steps to complete this process.
Press Windows + I button together
Select Time and Language option
You can also go to these settings by just clicking on the clock on the right bottom side of the taskbar
Select the parameters of Time Automatically and turn on the toggle button
Restart the Discord app again.
Users typically need these settings because manual settings of time and date sometimes interfere with Discord application opening because they are wholly unknown to us.
Disable Proxies
Many users practice the use of VPN or proxies to hide their identity or location for different purposes. But Discord application is among the software that doesn’t like the use of VPNs or proxies and can’t support these. Instead, it creates problems during running the Discord application if users are on VPNs or proxies.
Therefore, it is essential to disable the VPN or any proxies in the connection to an ISP to ensure the smooth working of Discord application.
Below mentioned are the few steps that will let you know the status of proxies or VPNs and also guide you through disabling them properly in no time.
Go to Control Panel. You can get access to the control panel by typing it in the search bar of the start menu or use My Computer to go there depending on the settings you used or type of operating system.
After getting access to the Control Panel, just find the “Network and Internet” option there and click on it.
You will go on another window after that and search for “Internet Options” on that page or window.
On clicking the “Internet Options,” you will go on the “Internet Properties” window; just find and click on the “Connections” tab that is available on the top of that window vertically placed among various other options.
You will see “Local Area Network (LAN)” settings there; just press a click on it.
After the appearance of “Local Area Network (LAN)” settings, you will see a section of “Proxy Server.” Just make sure that the LAN option is un-ticked.
Finally, click on the “Ok” button on the bottom side of the window and once again in the “Internet Properties” as the last click to save the settings.
Now, most probably, you can run your Discord application without any problem. However, this method is a little tricky to find out the settings, but it will surely work and let you enjoy the gaming sessions along with chatting with your friends.
Remove Malware
Malware is one of the severe risks associated primarily with Discord applications. There are different hackers present who try to steal the chat and other essential data that may result in financial loss.
To overcome the problems of Malware attacks, many users use various Anti-Malware Softwares available over the internet. These software work very well, but most of them are unaware of Discord settings and as a result, they create problems for the opening of Discord applications. Usually, the “Discord won’t open” issue is considered by many users as file corruption or misplacement, but it is not the case always.
Therefore, it is recommended to use Anti-Malware software for routine PC maintenance that is known to Discord settings. There are different Anti-Malware software, but Malwarebytes is one of the most popular for overcoming Discord problems.
Just download this software from the internet and install it to track any suspected Trojans and many other similar threats. This software is capable of removing any latest threats accurately.
Surely, you are capable of running the Discord application after installing and running the clean-up process, if you are facing the opening problem due to Malware software.
Update Discord
To tackle different problems and keep you updated is very important in this era of technology, especially in the field of IT. Therefore, developers of Discord application always try to find updates like other applications.
Developers of applications launch improved versions at regular intervals of time or when they got any critical updates. Failure to get the latest version could be a reason for not opening of Discord application. Therefore, I always try to get the newest version of the application for smooth working.
Follow the following simple steps to get the latest version.
Open your internet browser
Go to the official website of discord
Check for the available versions and compare it with yours
If there is the latest version available than yours, download it
Hopefully, it works very well and solves your problem.
Log in to Discord Browser App
There could be several reasons behind Discord opening problems and the easiest way to solve the issue is to log in to Discord Browser App. This method amazingly works to find out the issue. Because many reasons are not possible to find out that with the application. This may be due to the overloading of cookies.
Sometimes, it is experienced by many people that as they open the web version of Discord, it automatically resolves the problem even without login in the web version. Because discord allows the web version to resolve the issues faced by the installed application.
Web-version resolves the issue most probably but before login into the web version, make sure that the Windows version is updated and properly installed. The web-version technique also helps the users to reset the account settings which is helpful to ensure the proper functioning of the system.
Following is the effective way of activating the web version that will also help to bring the Windows version effectively.
First of all, open the internet browser and visit the official website of Discord by typing the domain in the address bar or search through search engines.
Look for the search button on the official website of Discord and fill up your login details accurately and move forward.
Again ensure the accuracy of login details and press the enter button.
Just after providing the login details, it will resolve application opening issues automatically in no time.
Now, you are free to enjoy the games and chatting with your friends through discord.
Delete Local App Data
Sometimes App doesn’t work correctly even after re-installing the application. Then you have to delete the local app data, and hopefully, it is fruitful. For performing this technique, follow the below-mentioned steps.
Press the windows and R button for accessing to run box
Type %appdata% and press enter
Look for Discord and delete the file
Finally, restart your system for saving and resetting the app data
These techniques mostly work and especially for users who tried to un-install and re-install the discord but without any success in solving the problem.
Uninstall & Reinstall Discord
If you are tired of applying various techniques but all in vain then we recommend you to perform uninstalling and re-installing techniques. It is one of the final solutions to tackle with Discord opening problem.
Go to the control panel by typing in the search bar of the start menu or by using the desktop process as we mentioned earlier
Find and press “program” in the control panel
Select un-install programs from the new window
Look for Discord in the list of applications
Select the Discord and press uninstall
But before carrying out fresh installation, make sure that the temporary app data is appropriately removed from the system by visiting the AppData folder. Usually, users skip this step, and as a result, the re-installation process is useless.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended to perform the “Delete Local App Data” properly, as we discuss in the above heading.
After un-installing and removal of App data, it is the right time to re-install the application. For this purpose, you have to perform the following simple steps:
Launch your web browser
Visit the official website of Discord by direct typing in the browser or through search engines
Go to the download section
Select the latest version and click on the download
After downloading, hit double click on executable discord setup file generally with the extension of .exe and follow the instruction you receive during installation
After successful completion, you can launch the application successfully.
Hopefully, this technique works well.
DNS Reset
Some users operate Discord very well in the beginning, but with time, it starts to create problems. As we discussed in the above article, there could be a lot of reasons for these problems and DNS settings could be one of them. DNS settings may get corrupted after some time of installation, and as a result, it may restrict the application from connecting with the internet.
It also affects the performance of the Discord program most of the time. To tackle this problem, you have to go for the resetting of DNS configuration with the help of flushing the DNS.
Just perform a few below-mentioned steps and complete the process with some clicks only:
Press Windows + R keys at the same time to go for run box
Type ‘cmd’ in the run box and hit the Enter key
You can see a command prompt window type ipconfig/flushdns and again hit the Enter key
Wait for the completion of the process and Exit the quick command window
These simple steps help you to reset the DNS settings, and hopefully, it will resolve your issue. Just launch the application and enjoy it.
Repairing the corrupted files
Discord application uses various files to run smoothly. If any of the files from the application get damaged or missing, it will restrict the app from opening and working smoothly. You can also try to fix the app opening issues by merely analyzing the system for missing and corrupted files.
If the data files get corrupted, it will never let you run the Discord app, and the message displayed over the window usually indicates the damaged or missing files. To resolve this issue, you have to scan your entire system. It will help you to find the missing or corrupted files easily.
After findings, the corrupted and missing files fixed automatically within no time and let you perform the function regularly.
But mostly synchronization it is asked by the users that how we can find or locate the corrupted or missing files. System File Checker (SFC) tool is available to scan the system and locate the damaged or missing data.
Follow the below-mentioned steps to perform the scan and resolve the issue.
Click on the Start menu
Type ‘cmd’ in the search box and you will see a cmd icon there
Right-click on the command prompt app and select ‘Run as administrator’ option
Type the following command and press the Enter button “SFC /scan now.”
It takes some time to complete the scanning process
After completion, restart your system
After the completion of the scanning process, the command prompt will provide you with a list of corrupted and missing files along with their repaired actions.
Hopefully, this final technique works if you try all the above methods but with zero output.
I have been fond of computer technology for a long time, ever since childhood, and was always meddling with various hardware and software. With graduation in computer engineering from a recognized university like NUST was a dream come true and enabled me to pursue my dreams in swift ways. Currently, I am working for various websites as a hardware reviewer and content writer.
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