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WinXPstartup ᵇᵘᵗOS2warp3ᶦⁿHQ

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The OS/2 Warp 3 boot sound recreated in the style of the Windows XP startup, built from stock library hits and used for retro PC and meme edits.

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About this sound

The OS/2 Warp 3 boot sound recreated in the style of the Windows XP startup, built from stock library hits and used for retro PC and meme edits.

This clip is a high quality edit that places the OS/2 Warp 3 boot sound where the familiar Windows XP startup chime would normally sit. Instead of a soft synth wash, it opens with a rising power lift and lands on a bold, dramatic chord taken from stock library music, then cuts off cleanly. The result feels grand and slightly over the top for such a short boot signal, which is why it lands as both nostalgic and funny. Listeners who grew up with 1990s PCs recognise the era instantly, even if they never used OS/2 themselves.

Pro tip

Place it exactly on the first frame of a fake boot screen or old monitor powering on, and let the final chord ring without music underneath. Cut to the desktop or punchline on the trim at the end for the cleanest comic timing.

How people use it

Drop it over a retro PC booting up on screen.
Use it for a Windows XP parody startup animation.
Add it to a nineties computer nostalgia compilation edit.
Play it when an old program finally loads successfully.

More information

OS/2 began as a joint project between IBM and Microsoft as a successor to DOS, before IBM continued it alone with Warp 3 in the 1990s. Its boot sound was not an original synth theme but a trimmed collage of stock tracks from Network Music libraries, including a rising effect and a gothic hit chord, heavily compressed for the system. IBM ended support on 31 December 2006, yet OS/2 lived on in ATMs, transport systems and licensed successors such as eComStation and ArcaOS, keeping its sounds in retro computing culture.

FAQ

What is this sound?

It is a higher fidelity edit of the OS/2 Warp 3 boot sound presented like a Windows XP startup. The sound combines a rising stock library effect called Power Lift with a dramatic Gothic Hit Chord, trimmed at the end.

Where does the OS/2 Warp 3 startup sound come from?

The original boot signal was assembled from stock music in the Network Music libraries rather than composed for the operating system. It uses material from the Shockwave 1 and Brainstorm 1 collections, which explains its bold radio jingle and television transition feel.

Why do people use this sound in edits?

Creators use it for retro computing jokes, fake boot screens and nostalgia edits because the grand chord feels far too important for a short startup noise. It instantly signals an old PC era, even for viewers who never actually ran OS/2.