Microsoft accidentally swapped the Windows 11 startup sound with the Windows Vista boot chime in recent test builds. Users of the Windows Insider Dev Channel reported hearing the Vista startup sound after the release of preview build 26200.5651.
The replacement occurred when the .WAV file stored in imageres.dll was changed to the older Vista sound. Microsoft acknowledged the error and noted it in the release notes, describing it as “a delightful blast from the past” and promising a fix soon.
Brandon LeBlanc from the Windows Insider team humorously commented on X (formerly Twitter) that he “went in and had some fun with the sound files,” but later confirmed the issue was a bug. The cause of the mix-up remains unclear.
This incident coincides with Microsoft drawing comparisons between Apple’s new Liquid Glass design and Windows Vista’s Aero Glass interface, which may have triggered some nostalgia among the development team.