Startup Sound - Change in Windows 7

How to Change the Windows 7 Startup Sound​

   Information

This will show you how to change the Windows 7 startup sound, not the "Windows Logon" sound, to any WAV file of your choice.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Note

If you run a sfc /scannow command, then you will lose all changes made to the system file in the tutorial below since it and all other system files will be restored back to default by the command.

   Warning

Making a mistake while modifying system files can render your Windows 7 installation unusable. To be safe, you should create a restore point before doing this tutorial in case you need to do a system restore at boot using the restore point to undo any mistakes that may be made.

   Tip

If you like, here are the Startup Sounds from previous Windows releases.

Windows History: logos, bootscreens, startup sounds etc | Redmond Pie

OPTION ONE

To Change Startup Sound in Windows 7 using "Startup Sound Changer"

1. If you have not already, download the StartupSoundChanger.zip file for the free Startup Sound Changer program at the link below, and save it to your desktop.
NOTE: You will need to click on the grey download button at the program's site below. WinAero: Downloads / Software / Startup Sound Changer - change your Windows startup


2. Open the ZIP file, and extract (drag and drop) the StartupSoundChanger.exe to your desktop.

3. Run the StartupSoundChanger.exe file, and click on Yes when prompted by UAC.
NOTE: This is a standalone .exe file that does not install anything on your computer.

4. With "Startup Sound Changer" you can set a .wav file to replace the startup sound, play current startup sound, and restore the default startup sound. (see screenshot below)

OPTION TWO

To Manually Change Startup Sound in Windows 7

1. Do step 2 or 3 below for what you would like to do.

2. To Restore Default Startup Sound in Windows 7

   Note

If you lost your backup or didn't create one, then here's a copy of the default startup sound .wav file that you could use to restore it with using step 3 below.


Download

A) Copy the default backup imageres_original.dll file (step 3O below) to your desktop.

B) Right click on the imageres_original.dll file and click on Rename.

C) Rename it to imageres.dll and press enter.

D) Repeat steps 3Q to 3X below to restore this file.
3. To Change Startup Sound in Windows 7 A) In Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll. (see screenshot below)
B) Right click on the imageres.dll file, and click on Copy. (see screenshot above)

C) Right click on your desktop, and click on Paste.

D) If you have not already, then download and install Resource Hacker.

E) Right click on the Resource Hacker shortcut in Start Menu - All Programs, then click on Run as administrator. (see screenshot below)
F) If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

G) In Resource Hacker, click on File and Open. (see screenshot below)
H) Navigate to and select the imageres.dll file copy on your desktop, and click on Open. (see screenshot below)
I) In the left pane of Resource Hacker, expand WAVE, and 5080, to 1033. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If 5080 and 1033 is named something else, then that is fine as long as they are still under WAVE. Just substitute what you have instead in the steps below. You can click on the Play WAVE button to hear what the current startup sound is.
J) Right click on 1033 and click on Replace Resource. (see screenshot below)
K) Click on Open file with new resource. (see screenshot below)
L) Navigate to and select the .wav file that you want for the startup sound, and click on Open. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This .wav file must be unblocked and remain at this same location. For example, move or copy the .wav into the C:\Windows\Media. If you move or delete this .wav file, the startup sound will no longer play it.
M) Under Resource Type, type WAVE. Under Resource Name, type 5080. Under Resource Language, type 1033. Click on the Replace button. (see screenshots below)



N) Click on File and Save, then close Resource Hacker. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You can click on the Play WAVE button first to hear and verify what the current startup sound is set as in this file.
O) On your desktop, Move and Save the imageres_original.dll file to another safe location of your choice as a backup.

   Warning

THIS IS YOUR ONLY BACKUP OF THE ORIGINAL IMAGERES.DLL FILE WITH THE DEFAULT STARTUP SOUND.

P) Check to make sure that the Play Windows Startup sound is checked in Sound so that it is turned on. (see screenshot below)
Q) Restart the computer and boot into the System Recovery Options (WinRE) screen, then select the Command Prompt option and press enter.
NOTE: If you do not have a retail Windows 7 installation disc, then you can create a System Repair Disc to use to boot to the System Recovery Screen instead.
R) In the command prompt, type diskpart and press enter. (see screenshot below step 3V)

S) In the command prompt, type list volume and press enter. (see screenshot below step 3V)

T) Make note of what the drive letter is for your Windows 7 partition or drive. (see screenshot below step 3V)
NOTE: The Windows drive is not always C at boot. For example, mine is listed as D here. Look at the volume name and size to help you determine which letter is the one that you have Windows 7 installed on.

U) In the command prompt, type exit and press enter. (see screenshot below step 3V)

V) In the command prompt, type the command below and press enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute D in the command below with the drive letter you have listed in step 3T for your Windows 7, and substitute username in the command below with your user account name.

COPY /V /Y "[B][COLOR=red]D[/COLOR][/B]:\Users\[B][COLOR=red]username[/COLOR][/B]\Desktop\imageres.dll" "[B][COLOR=red]D[/COLOR][/B]:\Windows\System32"

W) Close the command prompt, and click on the Restart button. (see screenshot above)

X) As Windows 7 restarts, you will hear your new startup sound.

   Tip

If you ever wanted to change the startup sound again anytime after the first time you did this tutorial, you would only need to replace the .wav file at the exact same location in step 3L in Windows Explorer with a different .wav file that you want to use now instead, then rename the new .wav file with the exact same name as the old .wav file. No other steps would be required.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Change the Event Sound Effects in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable the Startup Sound in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Allow or Prevent Changing Sounds in Windows 7
• How to Create a Custom Logon Sound that Speaks What You Like
• How to Change the "Welcome" Text Message at Log On in Windows 7 and Vista

 

[Brink]

Hello CJW,

No, you will only need to modify the imageres.dll file at the system32 location in the tutorial.

Run a sfc /scannow command and try again afterwards to see if that may be able to help.

 

[CJW]

If I do sfc /scannow, that will remove all my other customizations; correct?

I changed:
the Welcome text to Greetings
the Shutting down text to Farewell
the logon background (w/wallpaper of Windows 3.1 )

I deleted:
many Windows fonts that came pre-installed
Screensavers that came pre-installed
Cursors & Themes I'll never use

 

[Brink]

Yes, sfc would undo any modifcations that you made to system files.

 

[CJW]

Hmmm...

Think I'm just going to live w/o the sound for now, don't have my speaker on all the time anyways & don't want to reverse all my customizations just for 1 problem that I don't even miss much anyway. Perhaps if/when I reinstall 7 in the future, I can get it to work correctly.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome CJW. If I come up with anything else on this for you, I'll be sure to post back with it.

 

[Night Hawk]

I just have to wonder if he should try the other method I mentioned awhile back when booting from a live cd or from a dual boot with another version of Windows to first backup the original to a safe location and then delete that from the system32 folder manually for copying the modified version of the file there to see if that will be the answer.

 

[Brink]

It could be worth a try.

 

[Night Hawk]

That would be the best guess here as well. The drawback of course is the need for a second OS to work with or perhaps the idea of slaving the drive on another system long enough to swap the original file for the new substitute as another alternative.

 

[CJW]

Night Hawk, do you mean setup a dual-boot system & replace imageres.dll from 2nd OS to 7? I don't have access to a 2nd OS to set up a dual-boot, but I do have access to my wife's laptop which runs Vista, can I Slave from that (how is this done anyways)?
Also, what do you mean by a Live CD?

 

[Night Hawk]

No you wouldn't set up a dual boot but if you already had been dual booting with Vista for example you would into the previous version and take ownership over the original iamgeres.dll file once backed up in order to remove it when not booted into the 7 install directly. Then you simply copy the new version of same into that location as the replacement file.

As for any live cd that wuold simply another OS in order to see the same file replacement while booting live into that with the idea of replacing original with new version of the file which then has the new sound you want to see applied.

As far as slaving your main drive on another system or placing it in an external that would work but shouldn't necessary simply being a very last resort. In every instance you would be booted into other then the 7 installation on your drive in order to swap out original for modified imageres.dll files.

The methods outlined in the guide do actually work when followed closely. However if you still are unable to see results these would be a few alternate routes to take.

 

[AmigaRoots]

Thanks Brink for the nice tutorial. I succeeded in changing the sound, even bypassing the complicated 17-24 steps by using Unlocker, to rename/delete imageres.dll on the fly. However, upon restart, the startup sound is not the same wav I used. It sounds worse than the original and with audible noise at the end, as if it has been badly re-encoded.

 

[Brink]

I'm sorry to hear that AmigaRoots. You might try a different .wav file to see if it may just be a issue with the other one.

 

[Night Hawk]

I've collected hundreds of wav files over the years including recording many of my and every so often despite backups I end up tossing a few out due to file corruption like heavy fragmentation. The best way to see if a file will work is playing with WMPlayer before giong to use it. That will save you some time.

The next part is simply renaming the file name of the one you just saw tried once you have a new one ready in order to simply swap them out fast. That was something we had brought up earlier in the guide thread here.

 

[AmigaRoots]

Thanks for your answers. I tried the same procedure again, with the same .wav. file, and now it plays fine. I noticed the files I altered have now a little lock on them, not sure what it means, and if it comes from Windows or Unlocker.

 

[Brink]

That's great news AmigaRoots. The lock icon overly indicates that it's sharing and access permissions are set to only allow your access. It most likely came from Unlocker since it would have changed these permission settings.

 

[Night Hawk]

Agreed! Glad to hear you now have it working well.

I know I waited for a long time since the old XP years through Vista and now 7 to be able to make a change to the startup sound without disabling it. The program and guide here have made that all possible!

 

[Coke Robot]

Here's a pickler, how does one change the startup sound for a 7 installation on a virtual hard drive file that doesn't have the Startup Repair options?

 

[Brink]

Hello Andy,

Well, if you are using say Windows Virtual PC with the VHD as virtual machine (VM), then you could disable integration features for the VM, open the settings for the VM. Afterwards, use the tutorial below to select the Windows 7 ISO file used to create the VM as the DVD drive and boot from it to the System Recovery Options screen just like you would normally to do so.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/59908-windows-virtual-pc-boot-cd-virtual-machine.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Coke Robot]

Nice, did not even think of that! Thanks, I'll give it shot!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. Please let us know how it went.