The new Windows 11 Insider release has a weird bug where it plays the Windows Vista start-up music instead of the current one

To anyone who’s really into PCs and is happy to use beta software all the time, news that the latest version of Windows 11 Insider build has a wee bug in it will barely raise an eyebrow. I’m one such person, but my forehead went into all kinds of funny shapes after learning that the bug in question causes the Windows Vista start-up music to be played, instead of the correct Windows 11 one.

Yes, that’s right: Windows Vista. An operating system that launched 18 years ago, and one that is generally regarded as being the worst version of Windows ever (and just a generally poor OS all round). Let’s ignore the nature of the bug itself, which is a bizarre one for sure, and just focus on the fact that Windows 11 has the Vista start-up music in it.

I mean, it’s a pleasant enough snippet of music, but despite my best efforts to try and find it on my main PC, I couldn’t find any trace of the plinky-plonky sound file. Did Microsoft accidentally add it back into Windows 11, or has it always been there, hidden away from prying eyes? Windows Vista got its last update many years ago, so surely it can’t have been an accident.

So I’m left to assume that the Vista start-up music really is buried somewhere in the bowels of my PC. Which makes me wonder what other old stuff is tucked away. My favourites are those for Windows 95 and Windows XP—the former is courtesy of musician maestro Brian Eno and sparks lots of nostalgia. Mostly because of how often I heard it due to endless reboots caused by wonky drivers and hardware.

My real favourite is XP’s, though, as it’s just a solid, almost triumphant, blast of music to let you know that Windows is up and running. Moderns PC with speedy SSDs boot up so quickly that there’s little time to have any decent length of sound running, so Windows 11’s start-up sound is as basic as they come.

While I’m still pondering over ‘Why Vista?’, let me just make a small request of Microsoft. Fix the bug, by all means, but give us the whole gamut of start-up sounds in the Settings app. If Sony’s happy to do with the PlayStation 5, you can surely do it with Windows.