9 Working Methods To Fix “Discord Not Picking Up Mic”

Games are not fun unless the entire party joins in on a voice-chatting application. That is the true essence of gaming. Distant friends from far, far away, joining in to play and have the best gaming experience ever. Discord is one of those amazing applications!

Discord is one of the most widely used applications by gamers, developers, managers, and who not. After all, chatting through voice with no connection breakdowns is essential.

How To Fix Discord Not Picking Up Mic Issue?

But, here’s an issue you might have: Mic not working on Discord, be it a headphone, earphone, or an external device. Although you might have lost your cool trying to fix this issue on your own, the purpose of this article is to set you up on the right path and get the problem fixed in seconds.

To help you out we’ve curated a list of some of the most widely used solutions after we tested them on our systems.

Now, every method is not necessary to show results. Instead, try a method, and move on to the next if it doesn’t work. One of these should definitely get the “Discord not picking up mic” problem fixed, and you’ll be on to chatting with your buds soon.

Here’s our list of effective methods:

Method 1: Update The Drivers

This problem can be caused by many issues, but here is the first and the most common one. An outdated, missing or corrupted audio driver can be causing your mic not to work as it is supposed to.

This can be easily solved by updating the audio drivers. However, there are many ways to do it; here is the easiest one though:

Firstly check which audio card do you own and go to the manufacturer’s website. Search for the latest available drivers for your audio card and download it. Do keep in mind, always check the compatibility of that particular driver with your windows.

Method 2: Try Running Discord App As An Administrator

A quick hack to fix your mic can be running the Discord as an administrator. Here is how you can do it:

1. Quit the Discord if it is already running on your PC. Sometimes the app is still running at the back; you can find it in your Windows taskbar (don’t forget to check-inn “Show Hidden Icons” as well)
2. Then search the Discord app on your PC if it is not located on the desktop.
3. Once you find the Discord app, right-click on the icon and select “Run as administrator” from the drop-down menu that just opened.
4. Most probably, a prompt will display on your screen by User Access Control. Click “Yes” to move further.
5. Once the app runs as an administrator, try sending a voice message on Discord to check if the mic works.

Method 3: Reset Audio Settings On Discord App

Often, resetting the settings of the application have made a lot of things work. Same can be done by resetting the voice settings of Discord.

Here is a simple procedure of how to reset voice settings:

1. Open the Discord App, and locate the “User Settings” on the bottom right of the homepage.
2. Select the “Voice & Video” from the left menu.
3. Scroll the “Voice & Video” page till the very end, and select “Reset Voice Settings.”
4. Then select “Okay” to proceed.
5. You can also check your mic after resetting by clicking “Let’s Check” option under the Mic Test.
6. Otherwise, you can check your mic by sending an audio message on Discord.

Method 4: Logout And Restart The Discord App

Imagine you’re in the middle of the game, you’re chatting around with your buds. But, suddenly your buds can’t hear you, and there’s where your frustration starts. You’re doing everything you can to get your microphone to work out. But it doesn’t!

Well, one of the most common solutions or tweak, which can fix your microphone temporarily is to shut the Discord app itself. But, before you do that, Log yourself out from the application and restart the application. It might be working now.

Keep following to know the whole process:

1. In order to logout from the app, locate the “User Settings” option in the bottom-left corner of the home page and click it.
2. Then scroll it entirely down until you find the “Logout” option in the right menu.
3. After selecting the option mentioned above, a prompt will appear for confirmation of logging out, confirm it by clicking “Logout” again.
4. After you have successfully logged out of your Discord account, close the app completely.
5. Wait for 5 mins at least and then rerun the app.
6. Enter your credentials again to Log Into the Discord application.

This easy solution might make your mic work again.

Method 5: Alter The Automatic Input Sensitivity Settings

Now, we have gone through Discord’s settings, but there’s a ton of settings related to audio and others. But, in all the fuss, you might’ve left the “automatically determine the input sensitivity” setting unchecked. This setting is extremely important to be checked for your microphone to work out.

Disabling this option stops the Discord app to pick up your voice on the mic, so to fix this issue you have to do it manually (ironically the name says it’s automatic, but it is a little buggy). Here is how you can fix this issue:

1. Go to the “User Settings” Option on the bottom-left of the home page.
2. Locate the “Voice & Video” option from the drop menu and select it.
3. Scroll down until you find the option “Input Sensitivity” and check if the “Automatic Input Sensitivity” is enabled. In case it is not, enable it right away.
4. Once it is enabled, speak into your mic or headset and check if the bar given below the option is lighting up in green color. If it does, proceed to the next step.
5. Since we said, automatic settings can sometimes be a little troublesome. However, in that case, turn off the “Automatic Input Sensitivity” toggle (disable it), and place the slider somewhere in between the bars. Note that if the slider is pulsating when you are speaking, it is a good sign.

Method 6: Turn Off Exclusive Mode In Windows

We understand how frustrating it can be for an application to not respond to how it should. So is the case for Discord not picking up the microphone. However, as you can see, there are tons of glitches and bugs involved in an application that can allow it to respond awkwardly.

One such problem was detected in the Discord application, which allows it to gain exclusive control over the audio device driver. However, the exclusive mode in Windows doesn’t respond correctly if some of its settings are not enabled.

If you want to use your headset smoothly without any interruption, here is how you can disable the Exclusive Mode in Windows:

1. Locate the sound icon in the bottom-right of the corner of the taskbar and right-click it.
2. Select the “Sounds” option from the menu.
3. Open the “Recording” tab.
4. Find the Microphone or Headset you are using from the list and click “Properties.”
5. In the “Properties” window, select the “Advanced” tab and uncheck the boxes under the “Exclusive Mode” title.
6. Apply the changes.
7. To see the results if the mic starts working or not, restart your computer.

Method 7: Make Sure To Select Your Headset/Microphone As An Input Device

If you have come so far, and still your Discord is not detecting mic, here is what might have happened. Discord selects the default mic (built-in mic in laptop or computers) as the primary source of voice input.

You have to select your external microphone manually from the settings in order to make it in use over the default one as the default ones don’t have capable drivers for Discord like application.

Here is how you can do it:

1. Locate the “User Settings” at the bottom left corner of the home page and select it.
2. Choose the “Voice & Video” option from the menu.
3. Under the section “Input Device”, choose the headset you want to use with the Discord.
4. Make sure the “Input Volume” slider is at max.

However, if you are unaware of which headset to choose from the list, here is how you can get to know to the right one:

1. Make sure your headset/microphone is connected to your PC.
2. At the bottom-right corner of the taskbar, select the right click on the sound icon and choose “Sounds” from the menu.
3. Select the “Recording” tab.
4. Talk in your mic, and notice which level icon goes green. The one that lits up is your headset.

Method 8: Restart Your PC

At times, the program is not the one producing the bug. Rather, the system’s own drivers or features fail to respond and show up the right results.

So, if the last few methods have not worked out for you, a simple restart could’ve been the solution. Now, if you’re using the Discord application, shut it off, and restart your system.

Try opening the application after the restart and see if the application responds correctly or not. If the error still persists, this might not have been the solution.

Method 9: Enable Push To Talk

If you have tried your luck with all the above methods, what you can do at last is to change your input mode from “Voice Activity” to “Push to Talk”.

Reportedly, this might solve your problem. However, you have to push a button whenever you want to talk, i.e. enable your microphone. We know, it can be a little inconvenient, but still, it can allow you to talk to your game buddies.

Here are the steps:

1. Look for your username on the bottom left of your Discord screen. Press the cog right next to it to open the settings.
2. Scroll and find the “Voice & Video” option.
3. Tick the “Push to Talk” feature and enable the feature.