Streaming has become a popular hobby lately, with platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, and even the likes of Facebook serving as hosts for this passion.

The Screen Share feature allows us to feed into this interest within our circle of friends or smaller community servers.

However, despite this, the screen share feature can get pretty buggy and might not work as intended, which leads to Discord Go Live not appearing in many cases like this one.

 There 5 ways that we will show in this article that will fix this problem.

1. CHECKING SYSTEM PREFERENCES

An easy reason why you might be experiencing Discord Go Live not appearing might be because of admin restrictions imposed by your system.

However, the main reason why this occurs is because of privacy concerns, as screen sharing involves sharing what’s on your screen or other applications.

Running Discord as admin is as simple as simply right-clicking its icon, selecting the “Run as Admin” option, and selecting “Yes” to the prompt.

This can get tedious and annoying when you have to open Discord for the day, but you can follow these steps to keep Discord active with Admin Privileges.

I would advise trying this option first since it solves most if not all Discord Go Live not appearing problems.

1. Right-click the application or shortcut and select “Properties.”

2. In Discord Properties, select the “Compatibility” tab.

3. Tick the “Run this program as an administrator” and click on “Apply.”

4. Restart Discord and get on to Streaming your favorite game. Right now, I’m enjoying some Final Fantasy XIV without any problems on my Discord live not appearing or buffering…

2. SHARING SCREENS AND WINDOWED MODE

In Discord, when we want to go live, we are given the option to either share your screen or your application window.

So, for example, in this screenshot, my game, I am Setsuna, which is one of my favorite RPGs you should try out, is not detected as an application but is active on one of my screens.

The reason why this happens is mainly on the part that Discord only detects active applications.

Therefore, games or applications set to Fullscreen can cause problems such as the Discord Go Live not appearing since when the window is not active, it is set to pause or stop in the background, making it inactive. 

The same remains true when you are living with the application and decide to switch active windows. Although sometimes it’ll get fixed, it might sometimes cause Discord Go Live not appearing as the application was idle for too long without being run by Discord.

There are three ways to fix this, one of which I’ll be discussing in the next portion. 

For the two simple fixes:

1. you can choose to share your entire screen which would be screen 1, selecting this option will show everything displayed on your screen but not audio as it is a limitation within Discord. 

2. The other fix would bypass this limitation and problem. Still, it requires you to set the application in Windowed or Borderless as Discord can share ANY active window on your computer.

With this as your settings, even when you are to minimize or go to other active windows, your live stream will remain active and running as your computer is still running it in the background.

3. ADDING APPLICATIONS

We previously mentioned that Discord would automatically display any active windows you currently have open, but, in some cases, Discord won’t detect the game you are playing.

If you aren’t a fan of the two previous fixes, you can try this fix to Discord, Go Live not appearing.

Discord is built to be integrated with your system and can detect games you are currently playing. This is denoted by an option in the status pane showing the active game and a computer icon as an option to stream it.

However, there are cases where some games won’t be detected and require them to be added manually.

1. You can start by accessing the Discord Settings and going over the “Activity Status” Panel.

2. You can see here different games that have been added, usually automatically by Discord. The highlighted portion says “No game detected,” underneath it is an option to add games to your Discord.

3. As seen here, I have one of my favorite RPGs, I am Setsuna, opened in the background, but Discord doesn’t detect it.

4. Select your desired game, and it’ll now be detected as an active application that you can share your screen to. You will be able to tell if the game was successfully added if the status icon above your status pane is a question mark block. Make sure to match the name of the window with your selection in Discord.

Interestingly, it’s not only limited to games, but you can also add other applications such as Google Chrome or Spotify.

Furthermore, it should be noted that this will only work with legitimate copies of applications and may lead to complications if you use any pirated programs, leading to Discord Go Live not appearing and similar issues.

4. DISABLE DISCORD SETTINGS

While the previously mentioned fixes are used to address Discord Go Live not appearing. This fix, in particular, addresses the problem and improves your stream quality by disabling some of Discord’s advanced features and some of the stream settings.

You might be experiencing the problem because your computer might not be up to the task of live streaming while playing the game. Hardware limitations can cause your stream to stutter and flicker or completely fail.

Disabling some of Discord’s options might help relieve your CPU load while streaming.

Disabling “Latest Technology”

This setting option has been known to cause screen sharing issues such as flickering and black screen, as seen in some forum posts such as this one with users having the same problem.

To toggle this option off, find it in the “Voice & Video” App Settings underneath the Screen Share option. Furthermore, you can also toggle the second option as it is still experimental, which can cause an issue with Discord going live if your PC is not up to the task.

Disabling “Hardware Acceleration”

This option is usually reserved for older computers or computers with too many resources to use. This option, in particular, uses your graphics cards to help with any CPU-intensive applications, and Discord utilizes it as a way to even out system tasks.

You can find the option to disable the “Hardware Acceleration” inside the Video Codec section of Voice & Video. Disable the “H.264 Hardware Acceleration” or both options if you are still experiencing problems.

I don’t usually use the options above, but I use them when I have to stream something with a really heavy application and requires more resources, such as editing software or one of my CAD applications.

5. CLEAR SYSTEM CACHE AND REINSTALLING DISCORD

Perhaps the last resort to fixing Discord Go Live not working is to reinstall Discord to guarantee that everything is on a clean slate with no older version conflicting with the modern version of Discord.

Before uninstalling, you can try one of the tips from the, particularly with clearing your system cache.

Discord usually creates a system cache for future reference, but the cache can be deleted with no worries.

1. Exit your Discord Application

2. You will be directed to a location in your drive filled with several folders. You can do a combination of CTRL+A and Del on your keyboard to clear your system cache.

3. If it prompts you that some files can’t be deleted, you can choose to skip them as an active application uses them on your computer.

4. You can then relaunch Discord and check if the problem is gone. If not, consider reinstalling Discord, as this might be caused by system conflicts or errors.