Discord is a gaming-themed chat and media platform that has drawn in more than just gamers in recent years. The sleek, modern design of the application coupled with its rich feature set makes it a fantastic tool for collaborating. Discord has become a hub for content creators, professionals, and friends alike. The app even has built-in features like Streamer Mode that allow users to live stream without leaking sensitive content or information to their audience.
Discord is one of the most intuitive and easy-to-use social platforms currently available; However, the application’s speedy climb to the top has come with a few challenges. From issues with microphone connectivity to other glitches and errors, the application has a few hiccups that have yet to be resolved completely. The best way to be proactive is to make sure that Discord is updated and running the latest version. This guide will detail how to check and see if your Discord application is fully updated and how to manually update it if it is not.
How to Update Discord Normally
In most cases, users will not have to do anything to update Discord. As with most of the application’s key features, Discord will automatically search for updates and install them with each launch of the app. A pop-up will appear with a changelog and added features to let you know what has been changed with the most recent patch.
The process is similar if a user is running Discord at a time when a new update is released. The inbox icon in the upper-right corner will have a green arrow on it when an update is ready to be installed. Users can click that box to initiate the update, which will refresh and restart the Discord client. Alternatively, users can start the update by refreshing the Discord client by clicking CTRL+R when the client is full-screened. Doing so will refresh the page and allow the update to download as normal.
Still Not Updating? Try These Troubleshooting Steps
1- Sometimes a PC’s permissions can get in the way of a Discord update. Discord may need access to certain tools that your PC may be blocking Discord from using based on your preference settings. Running Discord as an administrator is a quick and easy way to see if that is the case. Simply right-click the Discord icon on your Desktop and select “Run as Administrator” to enable this mode. Click “Yes” on the window that pops up to allow this function to work its magic. From there, Discord should launch and be able to update if some pesky permission was getting in the way.
2- Closing Discord often isn’t enough to stop it from running completely as the app will continue to provide notifications and run in the background. To stop this, hit WIN+X and select “Task Manager” in the menu that appears. Under “Processes” in the section labeled “Apps” click on any running instance of Discord and hit “End Task” in the bottom-right corner of the application. This will completely stop Discord and cause it to restart upon launch, which should resolve most update issues.
3- As a last resort, completely uninstalling and subsequently reinstalling Discord is an option. Go to the “Control Panel” menu of your PC and select the “Uninstall a Program” option. The list is alphabetized, so Discord should be near the top of the list. Highlight Discord by clicking on it and then hit the “Uninstall” button at the top of the menu window. Once Discord is fully uninstalled, go to https://discordapp.com/ to obtain a fresh install of the client.
Conclusion
The old IT method of “have you tried turning it on and off again?” is the most useful course of action for ensuring Discord updates as it should. Others have recommended toggling Windows Defender off if the above solutions do not solve the issue at hand, but I do not recommend it. Leaving Windows Defender off could lead to more problems and security breaches down the line. Instead, reach out to Discord’s support team if none of the above troubleshooting steps were able to help.