Unexpected Discord app crash showing “WELL, THIS IS AWKWARD; Looks Like Discord has crashed unexpectedly” message has become pretty common lately. While streaming a game or hanging out on a server, Discord can suddenly stop working at any moment, even when using it in the browser.
In this write-up, I’ve explained different ways to fix the Discord crashing problem, which I found particularly effective.
Without further ado, let’s jump ahead.
Key Takeaways
- Make sure the internet connection is stable to resolve unexpected Discord app crashes.
- Disable Hardware Acceleration, especially on older machines, to steer clear of any crash.
- Perform a clean installation of Discord on your machine to resolve all sorts of issues related to crashes.
Get Around the “Well, This Is Awkward” Problem in Discord
Conflict with corrupted system files, inconsistent network connection, and hardware acceleration can lead to an abrupt Discord crash.
Prior to any attempt to fix the infamous “Well, This is Awkward” issue in Discord, check your internet connection and the Discord server whether everything is operational.
Once network issues get out of the way, try the fixes below one by one.
Turn Off Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration assigns the GPU of your computer to render text, UI, and other media. PCs with dedicated GPU can take full advantage of this feature and run Discord seamlessly.
On the other hand, relatively backdated hardware per se, Intel Core 3rd generation and below, or AMD Piledriver era CPUs may exhibit signs of compatibility issues with hardware acceleration turned on.
Notably, my old home computer with Intel Core i3 2120 crashes with HW acceleration on Discord. When I leave it off, it works like a charm!
Thereby, to dismiss such a possibility, disable hardware acceleration in Discord and check whether it crashes anymore.
To turn off hardware acceleration in Discord:
- Open User Settings by clicking on the gear icon beside the username.
- Scroll down and access the Advanced option under APP SETTINGS.
- Toggle Off the Hardware Acceleration switch.
Enable Legacy Mode
For some hardware Legacy mode of the Audio Subsystem, fixes the Discord app crashing.
To enable legacy mode on Discord:
- Access User Settings by pressing on the gear icon at the left bottom.
- Go to APP SETTINGS > Voice & Video.
- Scroll down to the bottom and find AUDIO SUBSYSTEM.
- Click on it and choose Legacy from the drop-down options.
Run SFC Scan to Repair Damaged System Files
You see, the constant crashing of any app most of the time interprets to be a system file corruption. As a result, the Windows system fails to fetch the digital signature of the app, hence the unexpected forced close down of programs.
Therefore, run System File Checker (SFC) to repair Windows files. Don’t know how?
Follow the instructions below:
- Press Win 🪟 + S to open Windows Search.
- Type cmd and run Command Prompt with admin access.
- Write sfc/scannow and hit Enter.
The entire process will take some. This will check for any system file integrity issues and fix them accordingly.
Once the operation is finished, restart your computer. Launch Discord, and it should not crash from this point on.
Completely Clean Up Discord Files & Reinstall the App
A thorough wipeout of previous data and an app overhaul in the system turns out to be the most effective fix for numerous problems on Discord, including crashes and not responding issues. In the past, every time I ran into weird issues on Discord, I did a fresh installation, and bingo!
That said, this process might appear to be slightly tedious, but worth the time you invest in this.
Here’s how to erase old Discord data from your PC and perform a clean installation:
Clean Up Any Trace of Previous Discord Files
- Stop all Discord services from the Task Manager.
- Launch Windows Run by holding down Win 🪟 + R.
- Write %appdata% and press Enter.
- Delete the discord folder.
- Open Windows Run again and type %localappdata% then click OK.
- Remove the Discord folder from the next window.
- Access temporary files on Windows via the Run program with the %temp% command.
- Delete all removable files and folders.
- Restart your machine.
Uninstall & Reinstall Discord
- Navigate to Control Panel > Uninstall a program > Find Discord from the list.
- Click on the Uninstall button at the top.
- Go ahead and download Discord and install it on your PC.
- Sign in with your credentials.
Download Discord From Microsoft Store
By now, the app crashing out of nowhere should be fixed altogether. But for some users, it may take an additional step to resolve the issue.
Here’s the thing — if the downloaded file from Discord’s official site still crashes every now and then, repeat the process from the previous method, excluding the installation part.
Finally, download the Discord app from Microsoft Store. This should fix the issue.
- Open the Microsoft Store application on your computer.
- Search for Discord.
- Select the result which contains the Discord app.
- Press on the Get button from the next screen.
- Wait until the download completes.
Now, launch Discord and sign in and observe if there are any crashes come to pass.
