Changing the Windows Startup Sound Workaround

You want to change the Windows Startup Sound and it cannot be easily done. This describes a workaround.

When you look in Sounds there is only the option to "Play Windows Startup sound" or uncheck it and not play a sound.

Unfortunately, there is not an easy way to do this. The startup sound is part of the imageres.dll file. There are ways described about how to do it on the web by basically hacking the imageres.dll using 3rd party software. However, this method is not supported by Microsoft and could result in a system that will not start Windows. The way described below is a workaround and does not change the Windows Startup sound, it does allow you to customize the sound played when Windows starts.

1. Right-click on the Windows desktop away from any icons and outside any open windows, and on the Desktop context menu, left click "Personalize".
   
   


2. On the "Change visual and sounds on your computer" windows click the Sounds icon in the lower right of the window.
   
   


3. This will open the Sound window on the Sounds tab. On the "Program Events" menu scroll down and select .
   
   



4. Click the "Browse" button and select the file you want to use for the sound to be played when Windows loads. It must be a wave file and you should avoid anything especially long as it could delay the startup.
   
   



5. Uncheck the by clicking on the box.
   
   



6. Click "Apply".
7. You should also click the "Save as" key and enter a new name for your Sound Scheme and click OK.
   
   



8. The sound you selected will be played after the Windows logon as Windows is loading the desktop.

You can also contact Technical Support here.