Windows 8’s lacking startup sound has been hiding in plain sight

A former Microsoft worker has revealed what the lacking Windows 8 startup sound was alleged to be. Microsoft has used distinctive startup sounds in Windows variations for many years, however Windows 8 ended that custom with a silent bootup course of. While startup sounds ultimately returned for Windows 11, the lacking Windows 8 sound has been hiding in Windows 10 and Windows 11 for years now.

Jensen Harris, the previous director of program administration for the Windows consumer expertise workforce at Microsoft, was behind the unique startup sound elimination in Windows 8. In a brand new YouTube video, Harris reveals what the lacking Windows 8 sound is. (See video beneath.) It’s really the identical because the startup sound in Windows 10 and Windows 11, which isn’t enabled by default.

So why did Microsoft resolve to initially take away it? Harris explains that the rising use of laptops led Microsoft to disable the startup sound in Windows 8, simply as the corporate was making an attempt to push extra cell PCs with Windows on ARM. It was a option to scale back distracting sounds, particularly whenever you’re at a espresso store booting up your laptop computer.

Harris did remorse the elimination, although. “I ended up somewhat regretting the decision to remove the sound, but by then it was too late to turn it back on by default,” explains Harris. Microsoft had been optimizing Windows 8 closely, particularly for ARM chips, and engineering groups needed to take away all of the code that loaded the sound into reminiscence and even code that supported the audio stack early within the boot course of. Adding the sound again would have value a second of the boot course of and extra reminiscence utilization.

“So I kept the sound in Windows hidden and just turned off,” explains Harris. The hidden sound is accessible in Windows 10 and 11 by opening up the Windows Login.wave file present in C:windowsmedia.

Microsoft had additionally been planning a particular startup sound for the unique Surface RT pill. “It’s the Windows 8 startup sound, but with a grounding low note at the beginning,” explains Harris. “It mirrors the four-note progression of the Windows 7 startup sound, but it’s more complete and fuller.” Microsoft additionally disabled this sound as a part of the bootup adjustments for Windows 8 and Windows RT.