Windows XP launched in 2001 as Microsoft's successor to Windows 2000 and Windows Me, and its default startup sound became one of the most heard computer chimes in the world. Millions encountered it daily at home, work and school for over a decade. As XP was retired in 2014, clips of the boot sequence spread on YouTube and soundboards as a shared memory. This 8BitGamer upload keeps that clean chime circulating for editors who need an instantly recognisable signal for starting up, logging on or time-travelling to the 2000s.
About this sound
The Windows XP startup sound effect is the familiar chime that played when the 2001 operating system booted, now used for nostalgic tech jokes and memes.
This is the classic Windows XP startup chime, a bright four-second rise of soft synth tones that resolves into a warm, welcoming chord. It was the sound of a computer waking up in the early 2000s, instantly signalling a fresh desktop and a new session. Hearing it now triggers instant nostalgia for dial-up era PCs, school computer labs and first family computers. Editors use that recognition to set a retro tech scene in half a second, or to puncture a modern moment with an old-system joke that needs no explanation.
