Microsoft removes the whiff of Vista from Windows 11 Insider Preview
- Reference: 1753979667
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/07/31/microsoft_windows_bug/
- Source link:
The bug was introduced in a Windows Insider Preview build of Microsoft's flagship operating system in June. Affected users found themselves on the receiving end of the Windows Vista startup sound – a noise usually followed by a deep sigh or groan as the follow-up to Windows XP lumbered onto users' screens almost two decades ago.
Microsoft acknowledged the bug as a known issue (it wasn't an Easter egg or something snuck in to remind users of one of the times the company dropped something a bit whiffy on their hard drives) and [1]wrote : "This week’s flight comes with a delightful blast from the past and will play the Windows Vista boot sound instead of the Windows 11 boot sound. We're working on a fix."
[2]
An eagle-eyed The Register reader spotted that, more than a month later, the company has finally got around to resolving the issue. Microsoft [3]said, "Fixed an issue where the Windows Vista boot sound was unexpectedly being used instead of the Windows 11 boot sound."
[4]
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Our reader commented that the bug was "Proof that Windows 11 is really the new Windows Vista."
Hmm. Reviled by users: check. A hardware compatibility nightmare: check. Festooned with unwanted gadgets and widgets… yep, that too.
[6]
That said, in retrospect, perhaps Windows Vista was given too much of a hard time. It represented a significant shift for Microsoft from the architecture of Windows XP to something a bit more modern, which laid the groundwork for Windows 7. It was also a time before Microsoft developed its Copilot obsession and a desire to slurp as much user telemetry as it could from customers.
Who are we kidding? It was awful.
[7]Windows 10 turns 10: Dying OS just worked, lacked compatibility chaos
[8]Microsoft's next Windows 11 update is more 'enablement' than upgrade
[9]Windows 11 is a minefield of micro-aggressions in the shipping lane of progress
[10]Critics blast Microsoft's limited reprieve for those stuck on Windows 10
At the time of the whoopsie, one of Microsoft's Windows Insider bosses, Brandon LeBlanc, [11]joked that "I went in and had some fun with the sound files in Windows and thought folks needed a blast from the past 😉 You did say how much you loved Vista," before [12]confirming "It's an actual bug."
LeBlanc was coy about how a bit of Windows Vista appeared in a test build of Windows 11. We can but hope that other blasts from the past might also be revived in the present. The Start Menu and Taskbar from Windows 10 would be a good start. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2025/06/13/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-26200-5651-dev-channel/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aIvneiyOs7CxP-czG1FYKQAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2025/07/30/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-27913-canary-channel/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIvneiyOs7CxP-czG1FYKQAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aIvneiyOs7CxP-czG1FYKQAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIvneiyOs7CxP-czG1FYKQAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/29/10_years_of_windows_10/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/30/microsoft_windows_11_25h2/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/28/windows_11_is_a_minefield/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/01/windows_10_updates_criticism/
[11] https://x.com/brandonleblanc/status/1933649956516352219
[12] https://x.com/brandonleblanc/status/1933672420076106188
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I dunno I thought Vista was pretty good. It enforced a half decent driver model and got rid of a lot of rubbish, and it felt a bit more polished than XP which was creaking by that stage. I used it for ages until Windows 7 came out and I had no issues with it at all
It did get there in the end, but the damage was already done.
So, changing the starup sound...
...is yet another user customisation that's been taken away? Is there anything left of the OS "look and feel" that the user can make their own or is everything dictated by MS now?
(I don't use it personally, just the locked down corporate builds at work, and there's pretty much nothing we users can change.)
So no real explanation about how this actually happened. What on earth is that file still doing there and why the switch? The bug itself hasn't been explained at all. It might well sound minor but it's actually quite worrying.
>> We can but hope that other blasts from the past might also be revived in the present. The Start Menu and Taskbar from Windows 10 would be a good start
Windows 10's start menu was broken. I think you meant Windows XP (or at worst, Windows 7).
How much you want to bet that instead of actually fixing the issue they just replaced the sound file with the win 11 startup sound?
Modern
" significant shift for Microsoft from the architecture of Windows XP to something a bit more modern,"
No, different. or newer. A misuse of Modern.
Perhaps they should remove windows 11 24h2 from Vista - both are equally dreadful - The amount of time I've wasted this time trying to get my computer to accept every security update is just beyond a joke. I hate 24H2 - perhaps Linux must be the final and only solution MS