With every Windows release, Microsoft nixed quite a bit of
famous features, and apparently that included startup sound.
When the brand new Windows 10 or Windows 8 device power on,
they don’t make the familiar startup chime we’ve come to know
and love in previous versions, such as Windows 7 and XP.
Jensen Harris, who worked as the director of the Windows User
Experience (WUE) team, recently explained why the company turn
off the startup sound on Windows 8 and Windows 10 by default.
The startup sound is still included on Windows 10, but it’s
disabled by default. According to a former Microsoft employee,
Jensen Harris,
startup sound was axed because modern Windows devices work a
little differently now – they can be used anytime and anywhere,
and that startup sound can disrupt a meeting or class while
trying to restart a computer.
Mostly, this was the result of the transition into a new world
where PCs are more like your mobile device—always on, ready to
go and can be used anywhere.
When Microsoft started working on modern devices and operating
system, they were optimizing the platform for “mobile-first”
use cases. One team within Microsoft was busy porting Windows
to ARM processors, while another team had started to design a
touch-first tablet user interface.
As Microsoft decided to focus on 2-in-1s, laptops, and
mobile-first use cases, the company realized that startup chime
on every reboot can be annoying and awkward. For example, if
you’ve to work late at night during your bedroom, it’d be
less-than-ideal to open up your laptop only to have it loudly
play out the startup sound.
“One of the things we did was to look at how and where people
were using their PCs,” Harris explained. “Most of the
PCs being sold were laptops or netbooks, and that percentage
was going up every year. With mobility came different
considerations—PCs being used in places that would have been
very unusual when Windows 3.1 came out, like in the bedroom or
on the couch,” he added.
The startup sound was ultimately turned off by default to
prevent an unintended interruption when you open your laptop.
However, Microsoft did not entirely remove the option and it
was only disabled on new installations by default, which means
you can still enable the startup sound by following these
steps:
- Open Settings >
Personalization. - Click the Sounds option and open the
Sounds tab. - Enable the “Play Windows Startup sound”
option.
- Click the Apply button and click on
OK.
If you followed the steps correctly, your system will now play
a sound every time you start or restart the computer.
