April 20, 2024
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Posted May 23, 2015 at 6:43pm by iClarified
These are instructions on how to add a startup sound to Mac OS X.

Step One
Launch Automator from your Applications folder.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Step Two
Click the New Document button.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X


Step Three
Select Application from the list of document types then click the Choose button.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Step Four
Drag the Run Shell Script action from the list off Actions to the workflow pane on the right hand side of the window.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Step Five
In the text area, type Afplay followed by the full path to the sound file you would like to use as a startup sound. You can also just type Afplay then drag the sound file into the text area.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Step Six
To make sure your sound file plays correctly, click the Run button at the top right of the screen. If you receive a warning that the application will not receive input when run inside Automator, just click OK.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Step Seven
Once you've confirmed that the sound plays correctly, choose Save from the File menu.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Step Eight
Enter a name for the application that you will remember, choose your Applications folder from the Where dropdown menu, and click Save.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

Step Nine
To get the startup sound to play at startup, follow these instructions to add it as an OS X startup item.
How to Add a Startup Sound to Mac OS X

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Comments (20)
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isaiah
isaiah - December 11, 2016 at 10:22am
Is it possible to do this but for an application's start up?
yourotherform
yourotherform - November 13, 2016 at 10:04pm
Do you know how to startup with a video?
Azzum Waqar
Azzum Waqar - April 8, 2016 at 2:31pm
Thanks!!! but it doesn't play at the very moment you log in, it plays when the system is loading start up items. but great stuff thanks!
AloysiusWee102
AloysiusWee102 - March 3, 2016 at 6:33pm
Great! It worked like a charm! :) thanks ^^
anonymous little helper
anonymous little helper - January 28, 2016 at 5:21am
For those of you having trouble with the "May only Specify one file to play" message… I did some testing and figured out that, if the file's pathname has a space in it, it doesn't work… e.g. '/user/name/folder/song.mp3' seems to work, but '/user/name name/folder/song song.mp3' does not… at least not on my MBP : )
Nirvager
Nirvager - October 23, 2016 at 1:47pm
Thankyou! Got rid of all of my spaces and underscores, had to rename my folders and file, and works just fine now
Magicmogwai
Magicmogwai - January 6, 2016 at 2:35pm
I had the same 'no such file or directory' problem Make sure there is a space between 'AFplay' and the file path. Worked for me.
keylimepietower
keylimepietower - May 25, 2015 at 5:39pm
Has anyone had luck adding this with Yosemite? Keeps giving an error "no such file"
helping
helping - June 2, 2015 at 6:34pm
Did you change the path to the audio file to be the correct path your file?
keylimepietower
keylimepietower - June 3, 2015 at 1:12am
Yes.. I typed in Afplay and dragged the file over and get this error "Run Shell Script failed - 1 error .. May only Specify one file to play"
tutcat
tutcat - February 6, 2016 at 8:00pm
take the file you want to use and place it in terminal then copy the file address that you get
Bob
Bob - May 24, 2015 at 10:08am
I am about to delete this app. The f@€king ad that you have to "wait" until it allows you to continue is infuriating at the very least. As much as I like this as a source of news - I have better things to do with my time.
gamerscul9870
gamerscul9870 - May 24, 2015 at 11:25am
It's like 3-4 seconds of dealing with, plus it happens 10% of the time you're in the app when opened.
Bob
Bob - May 30, 2015 at 9:48am
You must have a paid version - the ad stays for at least 8-10sec on my phone - often in some corrupted state - it took me at least 30sec to get to reply to your comment.
NATO
NATO - May 23, 2015 at 11:40pm
Better tell me how to remove that damn "deeenngggg" sound at start up! Freaking annoying as hell. Wakes everyone in the house.
gamerscul9870
gamerscul9870 - May 24, 2015 at 12:52am
Haven't you heard of turning it to silent for muting it on startup for the next time you use it.
jira850
jira850 - May 24, 2015 at 4:09am
this command should disable the chime (haven't tried though): sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80 or you can run this AppleScript when logging out: osascript -e "set volume output volume 0" how to create a logout script in Mac OS X is described here: http://superuser.com/questions/295924/how-to-run-a-script-at-login-logout-in-os-x
Me2
Me2 - May 23, 2015 at 11:32pm
reminds me of Windows hell Nay!
Reech
Reech - May 23, 2015 at 10:58pm
I get a problem when I try. 'The action shell script encountered an error' and the Log says 'No such file or directory' Any solutions? Thanks
Big Keisha
Big Keisha - May 23, 2015 at 9:43pm
Cool idea add sound file of lambo car starting up lol
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