This document lists the trigger conditions for every sound listed under “Program Events” in the Windows “Sounds” control panel. Note that whilst I group these sounds under different categories I have kept their name the same.
Miscellaneous
These sounds do not fit into any other categories.
- Windows Change Theme: When a new theme is applied
- Default Beep: When the user’s attention is needed (used in many contexts)
- Empty Recycle Bin: When the recycle bin is emptied
- Windows User Account Control: When administrator privileges are required
Program States
- Open Program: When a program starts
- Close Program: When a program ends
- Program Error: When a program crashes
Programs (Windows included) will often start and stop subprograms invisibly in the background. This is why these sounds will trigger seemingly at random without user input.
Window Sizing
- Maximize: When a window is made fullscreen
- Restore Down: When a fullscreened window is made windowed
Window Storing
- Minimize: When a window is stored to the taskbar
- Restore Up: When a window is restored from the taskbar
Menus
- Menu Pop-up: When a menu is opened (e.g. after right clicking on the desktop)
- Menu Command: When a command from a menu is selected (e.g. after selecting “Refresh”)
Devices
- Device Connect: When a device is inserted
- Device Disconnect: When a device is removed
- Device Failed to Connect: When a malfunctioning device is inserted
An example of a device is a USB flash drive.
Battery
- Low Battery Alarm: When the battery level reaches low
- Critical Battery Alarm: When the battery level reaches critical
Alerts
- Asterisk: When an information message box appears
- Exclamation: When a warning message box appears
- Critical Stop: When an error message box appears
- Question: When a question message box appears (deprecated)
You can run this script to make each message box appear. To do so download the script, right click it, and then select “Run with PowerShell”.
Instant Messengers
- Instant Message Notification: When an instant message is received
- Message Nudge: When a nudge (a.k.a budge) event is received
Instant messenger sounds will only trigger for Microsoft products (such as Microsoft Teams or Skype).
Notifications
- Notification: When a user installed application notification appears
- System Notification: When a Windows notification appears
- New Fax Notification: When a fax is received
- New Mail Notification: When an email is received
- New Text Message Notification: When a text message is received
- Calendar Reminder: When a calendar reminder notification appears
Desktop Mail Notification is deprecated and should be the same as New Mail Notification.
NFP
- NFP Connection: When an NFP connection is requested
- NFP Completion: When an NFP connection is completed
NFP refers to Near Field Proximity which is more commonly known as Near Field Communication.
These sounds work like a phone call. NFP Connection is the ringing sound before the receiver “picks up”. NFP Completion is the hang-up sound when the caller “hangs up”.
Speech Recognition
- On: When speech recognition is started
- Off: When speech recognition is ended
- Sleep: When speech recognition is put on pause
- Misrecognition: When speech is declared misrecognized
- Disambiguation Panel: When the speech disambiguation panel is opened
- Disambiguation Numbers: When the UI element indices are shown
Remaining
The remaining sounds are all (to the best of my knowledge) deprecated and I recommend ignoring them.
For example, Blocked Pop-up Window triggers when a pop-up window is blocked in Internet Explorer. Select plays on some selections but not on others. Show Toolbar Band hasn’t been used since Windows XP. …