Midjourney

Midjourney Upscale Not Available — How to Fix Missing Upscale Buttons

When Midjourney finishes generating an image grid, the U1, U2, U3, and U4 upscale buttons should appear automatically below the result. If those buttons are missing, greyed out, or unresponsive, it usually means the generation hasn't fully resolved, your session has stalled, or your GPU hour allowance has been exhausted. This issue affects both free and paid Midjourney subscribers across all Discord servers.

Why does this error happen?

Midjourney renders image grids in two phases: an initial low-resolution preview pass followed by a finalization pass that activates the interactive upscale and variation buttons. If Discord loses its WebSocket connection mid-render, the bot may mark the job as complete internally while the client never receives the button payload. Additionally, Midjourney enforces GPU hour quotas on all plan tiers — once your monthly or fast-hour allocation is depleted, the bot silently disables upscaling and variation actions until hours are renewed or you switch to Relax mode. Discord client caching can also freeze button states, making already-available options appear greyed out on your screen even though they are live for other users in the same channel.

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How to fix it

Wait for Generation to Fully Complete

Do not attempt to click upscale buttons while the progress bar is still visible beneath the image grid. Wait until the percentage indicator disappears and the final 2×2 image grid is fully rendered. Clicking too early can result in buttons that appear but do not respond.

Refresh the Discord Channel

Press Ctrl+R (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+R (Mac) to force a full Discord client refresh, or close and reopen the app entirely. This clears the local button-state cache and forces Discord to re-fetch the latest message payload from Midjourney's servers. After refreshing, scroll back to your generated image — the upscale buttons should now be visible and active.

Use U1–U4 Buttons Immediately After Generation

As soon as you see the completed image grid, click your desired upscale button (U1 for top-left, U2 for top-right, U3 for bottom-left, U4 for bottom-right) without navigating away from the channel. Midjourney sessions can time out if left idle, which may deactivate buttons retroactively. Acting promptly ensures the job context is still active on the bot's end.

Check If You Have GPU Hours Remaining

Type /info in any Midjourney bot channel to display your current subscription status, fast hour balance, and job queue. If your fast hours read 0.00 and you are not on an unlimited plan, upscaling will be disabled until your billing cycle resets or you purchase additional GPU hours. You can switch to Relax mode with /relax if your plan supports it, which restores upscaling at lower priority.

Pro tip

Type /info before starting a long generation session to verify your GPU hour balance. Setting up a personal Discord server for Midjourney usage reduces channel noise and makes it easier to locate your generations quickly before session context expires.

Frequently asked questions

Why do the upscale buttons disappear after a few minutes?

Discord message interactions have a built-in 15-minute expiry window after which buttons become non-functional, even if they remain visible. Always upscale or save your preferred images promptly after generation to avoid losing access to those options.

Can I upscale an old Midjourney image that no longer has buttons?

Yes — you can use the /describe command with the image URL or re-run the original prompt to regenerate the grid, then upscale from the new result. Alternatively, third-party upscalers can enhance previously downloaded Midjourney images outside of Discord.

Does switching from Fast to Relax mode restore upscaling?

Yes, Relax mode uses a shared GPU queue rather than your personal fast-hour balance, so upscaling becomes available again once you type /relax. The trade-off is longer wait times, typically two to ten minutes per job depending on server load.

Are upscale buttons missing on mobile Discord too?

Mobile Discord occasionally fails to render bot message components correctly due to app caching issues. Force-quitting and relaunching the Discord mobile app usually restores the upscale buttons without needing to regenerate the image.

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