Eliminate the Windows Start Navigation sound

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Aaron Parker

What’s the most annoying sound in Windows? For me it’s got to be the Start Navigation sound – that click that Windows plays whenever you navigate your way around Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer.

Usually you can prevent Windows from playing this sound by setting the Start Navigation event to None; however in Windows 7 it comes back whenever you change themes.

StartNavigation 

If you want to remove the sound completely, you’ll need to delete the wav file. To do that, run the following commands from an elevated command prompt:

TAKEOWN /f "%SystemRoot%\Media\Windows Navigation Start.wav" /a
CACLS "%SystemRoot%\Media\Windows Navigation Start.wav" /E /G Administrators:F
DEL /Q "%SystemRoot%\Media\Windows Navigation Start.wav"

These commands will work on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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  • http://www.bhall.com Brian Hall

    I noticed that too in Windows 7 beta 1. Does it seem like the “click” made a return in Windows 7, or did it just become more noticeable? In any case, turning it off is highly advisable–maybe I’ll submit that as “feedback” to Microsoft as I run in Windows 7. :-)

  • Jane

    I like that sound and mine just disappeared. There is a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it next to “start navigation”. Not sure what has happened. Any ideas?

  • http://stealthpuppy.com Aaron Parker

    Hi Jane, if you hit the drop down below the list of sound event you should be able to choose ‘Windows Start Navigation’ from the list. Alternatively the drop down list at the top under ‘Sound Scheme’ will allow you to choose the ‘Windows Default’ scheme and re-apply it, which should get you sound back.

  • http://asjreadyroom.blogspot.com John H. Harris

    On my system (Vista Home Premium), the "Start Navigation" entry is GONE. Is there any way to get it back? It's not just there with nothing associated with it, it's not in the list at all.