{"id":560,"date":"2024-03-23T16:03:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T16:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/guide-to-restoring-ubuntus-iconic-login-sound\/"},"modified":"2024-12-10T04:57:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T04:57:48","slug":"guide-to-restoring-ubuntus-iconic-login-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/guide-to-restoring-ubuntus-iconic-login-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide to Restoring Ubuntu’s Iconic Login Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you only started using Ubuntu sometime after 2012 then you have my apologies: this article won\u2019t make a whole lot of sense.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But if your roots with the distro reach back farther then the following curio might appeal (though that \u2018might\u2019 is, I accept, doing a lot of lifting).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When I reported on the new IRC-based chat app Linux Mint<\/a> is building a commenter amusingly referred to IRC adherents as \u201cnostalgia connoisseurs\u201d. In some ways, that label applies to me for writing this post. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I am a nostalgic dweeb \u2014 sorry\/not sorry! \u2014 and the \u201cgolden era\u201d of Ubuntu is something I look back to with a great fondness. You know how a certain smell can transport you back in time to a specific moment or situation? Vintage Ubuntu (it pains me to describe it as such) does that to me. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Not sure I’m alone in thinking Ubuntu’s old login sound is iconic, though. Even today, in 2024, more than 12 years after it was disabled, it still sounds oh-so<\/em> Ubuntu:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ubuntu disabled this login sound in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS<\/a>. It later refreshed the sound theme with more “modern” sounds but didn’t (IIRC) re-enable a login sound by default (which is why, reading this, you probably can’t recall what the new one sounds like \ud83d\ude05).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Anyway, as said: I\u2019m a sucker for nostalgia \u2014 so I decided to bring it back.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

If you wish to revert back to the traditional Ubuntu login on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or newer versions, here are the steps required:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Access Startup Applications<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Select ‘Add’<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Fill the empty field with a name of your choice, for instance, \u201clogin sound\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. In the command input, type:<\/strong> \/usr\/bin\/canberra-gtk-play --id=\"desktop-login\" --description=\"GNOME Login\"<\/code><\/li>\n
  5. Once again, select ‘Add’<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Take note that the procedure doesn’t end here.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

    If you proceed to log out and log in again immediately<\/em>, the Yaru sound theme’s login sound will play back. Hence, to hear the classic Ubuntu login sound, you must download it and relocate it to the appropriate directory.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

    You could<\/em> download the old ubuntu-sounds<\/code> theme package, unpack it, move the \u2018ubuntu\u2019 folder to the relevant location, and set it default in dconf<\/code>. But I do not recommend that method because the old Ubuntu sound theme does not include all sounds that modern GNOME uses.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

    An easier\u2122 solution is to only replace the login sound file in the Yaru<\/em> theme. This will keep the rest of the system sounds (like low battery warning) intact (and means you don\u2019t need to change any dconf<\/code> settings either, which is a bonus).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

    Replace this file in this folder<\/p>\n<\/p>\n