In the Windows 11 Build 21996 image that was sneaked yesterday, in addition to major UI improvements to the taskbar, start menu, etc.,Microsoft also reintroduced the startup ringtone. Microsoft has removed the startup ringtone since Windows 8 and does not provide it in Windows 10.

Jensen Harris, former program management director on the Windows User Experience team, explains,Giving up the Windows startup ringtone is to avoid waking up his children when using the laptop. He said:

I had this experience with my MacBook. It was late at night, I had just become a father and it was my turn to take care of my kids in the middle of the night. I was tempted to fire up my laptop and browse the web, but I couldn't remember if the volume was turned down. I realized that there was a 50% chance that I would press the power button and hear the loud startup chime, waking my sleeping wife and groggy baby, and there was no way I could control it.

I chose to close my laptop rather than risk it. At that moment, it dawned on me that having a device play a startup sound is a very poor feature for a device that is used in a person's most private space at any time of the day or night.

But now,In Windows 11 system, the startup ringtone returns again, and you can hear the ringtone is softer.