We love using Discord on a daily basis. I mean, who doesn’t?
It provides a meeting place for like-minded gamers to meme and wax lyrical about their favorite games.
Since the app has become such a pillar of gaming communities, when it fails to update and consequently launch, you’re excused for feeling somewhat helpless and cutoff.
We have all been there!
Don’t worry, we’ve got a selection of fixes if you’ve been struck down by the infamous “Update 1 of 1” infinite update issue or similar manifestations of Discord failing to update.
Let’s get started with the first fix:
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The Waiting Game
The first fix is quite simple: wait it out. Specific Discord downloads are chunkier than others. If your internet connection is throttled due to peak traffic, or the Discord servers are saturated or acting slow for a variety of reasons, the update may take longer to download than what you’re accustomed to.
As the saying goes, patience is a virtue. Leave Discord to its own devices, grab a coffee, read a book and do something else.
If you end up waiting for longer than 30 minutes, you can be more or less sure that the issue isn’t just a slow download, and you can move on to the fixes listed below.
Reinstall Discord
A fresh reinstall can do wonders for any misbehaving program, and Discord is no different. There’s no need to uninstall Discord for this fix.
- Visit the Discord website and download the latest version here.
- When the download is complete, double click on the “Discord Setup” executable file and let Discord do its thing. The setup file takes care of everything and within a minute, if not sooner, the process will be complete.
- Launch Discord as usual.
- Discord will download the update and install it before loading up the familiar server list.
Launch Discord As Admin
Sometimes Discord needs a little push to get through that pesky update. In this case, running Discord as an admin appears to provide a remedy for the majority of users. Here’s how to do this:
- Make sure to close the Discord app before you proceed. Double-check the icon isn’t in the system tray, and if it is, right-click on it and select “close.” If you’ve set Discord not to run on startup, a reboot ensures all associated Discord services are closed.
- Depending on how you launch Discord, navigate to either the desktop icon or the Windows start menu Discord entry, then right-click and select “Run as administrator.”
- Discord launches, and the update should complete.
Uninstall & Reinstall Discord
If the above fails, then we have to get a little more drastic — eradicate all traces of Discord and complete a fresh install.
- To begin, close Discord. Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to open Task Manager, and from the list of services click on Discord, then on “End Task.”
- Right-click on the Windows Start menu and click on Search.
- Type” Control Panel” and click on the first result of the same name.
- Select “Uninstall a program,” then find Discord in the list of programs and click “Uninstall.” Follow the steps provided by the uninstall wizard.
- When the uninstallation is finished, right-click on the Windows Start menu, then click on “Run.”
- Type “%appdata%” into the search field and click on “Run.”
- Find the Discord folder in the window that appears, right-click on the folder and then hit “Delete.”
- Do the same, but searching for “%LocalAppData%” using “Run” and deleting the Discord folder of the same manner.
- In your browser, navigate to the Discord site here and download the latest version of the app.
- Open the executable “Discord Setup” file, and Discord will install itself.
- Launch Discord, and the update should be completed without any issues.
And that’s it! The fixes above are your best bets when your Discord program does not update.