How To

How to Change Windows Startup Sound

When widows XP came out, everyone just loved it’s startup sound. I used to be a big fan of it as well. However, as years went by some people got bored of that sound and wanted change it. You ever wanted to change windows startup sound that is there by default?

Windows Startup Screen

Well, it can be done. There is no easy way to do it in Windows 7 and other later Windows versions. In Windows XP then it is relatively easy. I will walk you through the process here.

Please note that the sound to be used as the startup sound MUST be in WAV format, ensure that it has a .wav extension. You can use Zamzar to convert any audio file to .wav format.

1. Changing startup sound in Windows XP

Open the Control Panel by going to the Start Menu and you will see it on the right. Look for the ‘Sounds and Audio devices’ and select it. When the window opens, select the ‘Sounds’ tab. You should be able to see a number of entries (program events).

Scroll down till you find the ‘Start Windows’ entry. The lookup-wizard at the bottom will be showing ‘Windows XP Startup’ adjacent the ‘Browse’ button.

Windows XP Startup sound change

Click the ‘Browse’ button to locate your preferred sound on your PC and select it, then click ‘Apply’. Remember it should be in WAV format.

2. Changing Startup sound in Windows 7

This is the easiest and safest method of changing the Windows 7 startup sound. Download the Startup Sound Changer program which comes as a .zip Extract the compressed file and run the StartupSoundChanger.exe file.

Startup Sound Changer for Windows 7

Here, you will see the options to Play, Replace or Restore the startup sound. While replacing to your preferred sound, remember it should be a .wav sound. The Restore option will change the startup sound to the factory default while the Replace option will allow you to choose from a sound located on your computer.

3. Changing Startup sound in Windows 8

Microsoft made significant changes in the Windows 8 operating system and Windows 8.1 as well. All those who have used the operating system will agree about the really quick boot time. The Fast Boot is actualized by the fact that a windows 8 shutdown is not an actual shutdown. It is something known as a Hybrid Shutdown that allows a fast system resume. Due to this, Windows 8 does not feature a startup sound. The only sound that is there and can be altered is the Windows Logon sound. However, the logon and logoff sounds are deactivated, and must be activated via the registry editor. Just follow these steps:

(i) Swipe from the right to open the search charm or press the Win-key and type ‘regedit.exe’ and open the program.

(ii) Navigate, on the left, through the directories to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER’ then ‘AppEvents’ then ‘EventLabels’. Locate the ‘Windows Logon’ folder, open it and double-click the ‘ExcludeFromCPL’ key.

(iii) Change the value from 1 to 0 and click the ‘OK’ button. This basically is how computers operate, in binary language, where 1 and 0 represent on and off switches.

Now, open the Control Panel, select the “Sounds’ option and click the ‘Sounds’ tab. Scroll down to the ‘Windows Logon’ event and click ‘Browse’ to select your preferred sound (.wav) Now, perform a full shutdown by pressing Win-Key + X, go to shut down or sign out, and select shut down. Once Windows boots up, the logon sound will be heard after the user logs on to windows.

I hope now you are able to change the startup sound of your windows computer. If you face any problem regarding this, just comment below and I will try my best to help you out.

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