Posted on by

How To – Disable Ubuntu Startup & Shutdown Sounds

I am one of those people that doesn’t really like to hear the little tunes played every time I startup and shutdown the computer. Unfortunately, Ubuntu does that by default.

I probably wouldn’t mind if it were really soft all the time, but it’s not. Sometimes I am listening to a video online and I have to crank up the volume a bit to hear it. Well, I don’t always remember to turn it back down to a normal level. So what happens is that when I go and shutdown the computer, the system tune is blaring loud. Of course, if I forgot to turn that volume back down and it booms loudly on shutdown, it’s also going to be ridiculously loud on startup – at which point I can go back to the desktop and turn the volume back down.

I decided to simply turn off those sounds entirely, and it’s really easy to do.

Go to:

1) System -> Preferences -> Sound
2) This will open a preferences window.
3) At the top of the window, click the tab that says ‘Sounds’
4) At the bottom of the list of system sounds, find ‘Log out’ and ‘Log in’
5) Using the arrows to the right of those sections, change the option for both to ‘No sound.’
6) Close the window.

And that’s it. Not difficult at all.

~Nicole

Published by Nicole Hernandez

11 Replies to “How To – Disable Ubuntu Startup & Shutdown Sounds”

  1. what about the sound that plays when ubuntu finishes loading? i hate it and i dont know how to turn it off, note that it is not the login sound, it plays before you login and its like drums playing.

  2. On Feisty, go to Login Window Preferences, Accessibility Tab, uncheck ‘Login Screen Ready’ under Sounds

  3. We have System|Prefs|Sounds, then we have LoginWindowPreferences. Of course, let’s not forget disabling the PC speaker. That’s three. HOw many more are there?

  4. Hi !
    I am having the exact same problem, though in Kubuntu. Kubuntu does not have the same menu options, and I do not find preferences under system. What can I do to remove those sounds.

    I have a laptop, and have already embarrassed myself twice with those loud blaring noises, once in a library and another time in a quiet setting.
    Thanks !

  5. Hey, I got the answer… 🙂
    You have to go to System Settings -> Notifications -> Change “Event source” to KDE System Notification -> Scroll to Login and Logout, and do what you feel like 🙂

  7. I’ll add my thanks, too. It’s easy to find Ubuntu help, but much less easier to find Kubuntu help, so this tip is greatly appreciated!

  8. see you have all figured out how to disable them but what about just changing it ? :P, let me know if you find out how to do it please

  9. Hi there- it is a bit more difficult than Nicole suggests, as many users have found out. This is the only reliable way to disable the tenacious login sound in 8.10:

    system>preferences>sessions>GNOME Login Sound then remove it from the list. Done.

  10. On my ubuntu 12 system running KDE desktop you go to

    System Settings>Manage Notifications>Applications tab, KDE Workspace (under Event source), and select Login in the Title column.

    Then just uncheck the “Play a sound” box. This disables KDE-Sys-Log-In-Short.ogg from playing. You can actually change the sound if you want by selecting the folder icon right of the sound name.

    Had to figure out this on my own as nobody seems to use KDE but me.

Comments are closed.