Windows 7 - Sounds - Change

**Brink**

How to Change the Event Sound Effects in Windows 7

Information

This will show you how to change the sounds applied to events in Windows and Programs as a Sound Theme in Windows 7.

Note

Windows 7 uses .wav (wave) files for the sound events. The default folder that Windows 7 uses to store the sound files in is located at C:\Windows\Media.

Be sure that the .wav files you want to use are unblocked to be able to use them.

Tip

For fun and sharing, you can post the sounds that you use at this link if you would like to.

OPTION ONE

To Change Sound Events in "Sound" Settings

1. Open the Control Panel (All Items View).
A) Click on the Sound icon.

B) Click on the Sounds tab. (see screenshot below step 5)

C) Go to step 5.

OR

2. Right click on the Volume (little white speaker) icon in the bottom right corner area of the taskbar. (see screenshot below)
A) Click on Sounds.

B) Go to step 4.

OR

3. Right click on a empty area of the desktop and click on Personalize. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: The Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic editions do not have Personalize included in them.

4. Click on the Sounds link at the bottom of the window. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: The name in gray under Sounds is the current sound scheme selected.

5. To Turn the Windows Startup Sound On or Off
A) Check or uncheck the Play Windows Startup sound box. (see screenshot below)

6. To Change an Event Sound
A) Click on a Program Event (in middle section) to select a sound event. (see screenshot above)

B) Click on the Browse button. (see screenshot above)
NOTE: The default Windows 7 sound files are located at C:\Windows\Media.
Navigate to the .wav sound file you want for the sound event and click on Open. (See screenshot below)

Click on Apply.

OR

C) Click on the Sounds: drop down arrow menu at the bottom to the left of the Test and Browse buttons. (See screenshot below)
Click on a .wav sound file to select it for the sound event.

Click on Apply.

7. To Test Play a Sound
A) Click on a Program Event you want to hear the sound for. (see screenshot below step 3)

B) Click on the Test button.

8. To Change a Sound Scheme
A) Click on the Sound Scheme: drop down arrow menu. (see screenshot below)

B) Click on the Sound Scheme you want.

C) Click on Apply.

9. To Save a Sound Theme
NOTE: This is useful to have all your event sound changes saved as a Sound Theme to be able to select in step 6 above.
A) Click on the Save As button. (see screenshot above)

B) Type in a name for the sound scheme (theme) and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

10. To Delete a Sound Scheme
NOTE: You cannot delete the No Sounds, Standard Default, or Windows Default schemes, only the ones that you saved.
A) Click on the Sound Scheme: drop down arrow menu. (see screenshot below step 6)

B) Click on the sound scheme you want to delete to select it.

C) Click on the Delete button.

D) Click on Yes in the confirmation prompt. (see screenshot below)

11. When done click on OK to close the Sound window. (see screenshot below step 5A)

12. Close the Personalization window. (see screenshot below step 4)

OPTION TWO

To Change Sound Events Manually in Registry Editor

1. Open the Start Menu, type regedit in the search box, and press Enter.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: In the left pane under Apps, each subkey (folder) .Default (Windows), Explorer (Windows Explorer), and sapisvr (Windows Speech Recognition) contains sound events under those categories just like in Sound from OPTION ONE above.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps

4. In the left pane of regedit, doubleclick on the sound event (ex: MailBeep for "New Mail Notification") you want to change to expand it. (see screenshot above)

5. In the left pane under the exapnded sound event (ex: MailBeep), select the .Current key. (see screenshot below)

6. In the right pane of .Current, right click on (Default) and click on Modify. (see screenshot above)

7. Type in the full path of the unblocked .WAV file you want played for this sound event, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

8. Repeat all of the steps above in OPTION TWO for any other sound event that you wanted to change.

9. When finished, close regedit.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

**entgelt** · 10-31-2009

This information help me to easily modify sound effects for Windows 7.

What I could not discover, was how to change or modify the little bleep that one hears when Window loads-up to the log-in page, where the password is entered to enter Windows 7.

I looked throught the sound information and found nothing thnat would change this. I must have overlooked something.

How do I alter or change the "sound effect" that is play just prior to the initial log-in screen?

Thank you for any information.

Entgelt

**Brink** · 10-31-2009

Hello Entgelt, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You did not miss anything. It seems that you can only turn the "Windows Startup sound" on and off in this setting, and cannot change it by default.

However, you can change the startup sound using this:

Startup Sound - Change in Windows 7

entropy1963 · 10-10-2010

Hello,

I there any way to export a sound scheme for transferring it to another computer? Not the whole theme, which will also include the sounds. I need to transfer only the sound scheme or save it for future use.

Thanks

**Brink** · 10-10-2010

Hello Entrophy,

I'm not sure if you can like that, but I will look into it and post back if I find a way to.

**Dwarf** · 10-10-2010

The actual sounds in a scheme are located here: C:\Windows\Media\<SoundSchemeName>, where <SoundSchemeName> is the name of the Scheme¹. Save this folder with the same name as that of the Scheme¹.

They are referenced in the Registry as shown in the code below:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\.Default\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Ding.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\ChangeTheme\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Logon Sound.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\Critical Battery Alarm\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Battery Critical.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\DeviceConnect\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Hardware Insert.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\DeviceDisconnect\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Hardware Remove.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\DeviceFail\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Hardware Fail.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\FaxBeep\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Notify.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\LowBatteryAlarm\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Battery Low.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\MailBeep\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Notify.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\PrintComplete\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Print complete.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\SystemAsterisk\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Error.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\SystemExclamation\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Exclamation.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\SystemExit\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Shutdown.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\SystemHand\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Critical Stop.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\SystemNotification\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Balloon.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\WindowsLogoff\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Logoff Sound.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\WindowsLogon\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Logon Sound.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\WindowsUAC\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows User Account Control.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\BlockedPopup\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Pop-up Blocked.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\EmptyRecycleBin\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Recycle.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\FaxError\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\ding.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\FaxLineRings\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\Windows Ringin.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\FaxSent\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\tada.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\FeedDiscovered\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Feed Discovered.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Navigation Start.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\SecurityBand\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\<SoundSchemeName>\\Windows Information Bar.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\sapisvr\DisNumbers\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\Speech Disambiguation.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\sapisvr\HubOffSound\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\Speech Off.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\sapisvr\HubOnSound\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\Speech On.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\sapisvr\HubSleepSound\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\Speech Sleep.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\sapisvr\MisrecoSound\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\Speech Misrecognition.wav"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\sapisvr\PanelSound\<SoundSchemeName>]
@="C:\\Windows\\Media\\Speech Disambiguation.wav"

Copy and paste the above code into Notepad and, using the Edit/Replace... function, replace all occurrences of <SoundSchemeName> with the actual scheme name¹. Save this file with a .reg extension, giving it the name of the scheme¹.

You can now place this file, together with the actual sound files, onto a USB key or other storage device. To replace/restore this information, simply copy the sound files saved previously to C:\Windows\Media and the merge the .reg file into the Registry. If you want other users to also be able to use these sounds, you will need to merge the .reg file separately for each user.

**Brink** · 10-10-2010

Thank you Dwarf.

entropy1963 · 10-11-2010

Sound scheme continued

Guys thanks for your advice. Based on this information I did the following:

Step 1: you set once the sounds as you like in one computer
Step 2: run-->regedit--> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents. You export this key and you save it
Step 3: you make sure that any other computer has exactly the same files in the folder C:\Windows\Media
Step 4: you merge the exported registry key to the computer you wish to transfer the sound scheme

That’s it…

Can you guys verify that I have not messed it up? For me it works just fine.

Thanks

**Dwarf** · 10-11-2010

To cut the size of the registry file down even further, you would only need to export the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps

Incidentally, there is nothing to stop you creating your own .wav files and placing them in a directory of your choice, so long as the entries in the registry reflect the location of these files. For example:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\.Default\.Default\<SoundSchemeName>
@="C:\\<Path to File>\\<SoundSchemeName>\\<SoundName>.wav"

Where <SoundSchemeName> is the name given to the scheme, <Path to File> is the location where you have placed the files, and <SoundName> is the actual name of the individual .wav file.

entropy1963 · 10-12-2010

Thanks Dwarf,

I have indeed created my own sounds and to remember their paths I just create a directory under C:\Windows\Media and put them there. By exporting the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps you miss the names of the schemes, while exporting the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes you also get the names of the sound schemes.

I have always wanted to export my custom sound scheme and I would have never figured this out without your advice. Thanks
It looks that manipulating the registry is the only way to customize the windows. Wish I new more tricks!!!

Windows 7 - Sounds - Change

Sounds - Change

Sounds - Change problems?