Nostalgic 90s & 2000s Sounds for Your Tesla Lock Chime
Windows XP shutdown, ICQ "uh-oh," AOL goodbye, dial-up, Nokia ringtone: 10 free 90s/2000s LockChime.wav downloads for Model 3, Y, S, X & Cybertruck.
Before push notifications, there was a chime for everything: a modem screaming its way onto the internet, a buddy list door slamming shut, an operating system saying goodnight. Those sounds got compressed into a second or two of audio precisely so they'd cut through a noisy room, which happens to be the exact job a Tesla lock chime needs to do in a parking lot.
The library's Retro Tech sounds are our most-downloaded nostalgia category, led by one sound alone: the Windows XP shutdown chime has been installed thousands of times. Below are ten of the best, every one a free LockChime.wav download, ready for USB install. New to custom lock sounds? Read the install guide →
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Windows XP Era
Windows XP Shutdown
The library's single most-downloaded sound, period. Two seconds of warm, wistful farewell that closed out millions of late-night sessions between 2001 and the mid-2010s. As a lock chime it does the same job it always did: it tells you something just ended.
Best on: All models. The chime's low, rounded tone comes through clean on a single external speaker.
Windows XP Startup
The four-note chord that meant the machine was awake and ready for another day of dial-up, ICQ, and way too many browser windows. It's the mirror image of the shutdown chime, so if you want a "the car is alive" feel instead of a farewell, this is the one.
That sharp, judgmental ding from somewhere deep in Control Panel. Everyone who used a PC in the 2000s has a visceral memory of this sound accompanying a blue screen, a failed install, or a closed program that shouldn't have closed. As a lock chime it's a joke that lands instantly: your Tesla scolding you for locking it.
Best on: Model 3, Model Y. The mid-range ding needs no bass to land.
Windows 95 Ta-Da
Brian Eno composed this fanfare in four days for Microsoft, and it shipped to roughly 400 million PCs. It's the sound of computing "arriving" for an entire generation, six years before XP, and it still reads as an event rather than background noise.
The original "someone's messaging you" sound, from the instant messenger that predates AIM and MSN both. "Uh-oh!" in 0.6 seconds is turn-of-the-millennium chat nostalgia distilled to its purest form, and it's this cluster's biggest search term by a wide margin.
Best on: All models. A short, bright notification tone with no low end to lose.
AOL Goodbye
The AIM sign-off chime: a soft, fond farewell that closed out an entire generation of buddy lists and away messages. If the ICQ uh-oh is the "you've got a message" half of this era, this is the other bookend.
The soft ding that meant someone was thinking of you at 11pm on dial-up in 2003. MSN Messenger was the AIM alternative for a huge swath of the world outside the US, and this chime is instantly placeable for anyone who grew up on it.
Thirteen notes ("Gran Vals," if you want the classical-guitar original) that made an entire generation recognize a phone from across a room before smartphones existed. It's one of the most-searched ringtones on the internet, full stop, and it works as a lock chime for the same reason it worked as a ringtone: instant recognition at low volume.
Best on: Model S, Cybertruck. The dual-speaker setups give the melody a little more width.
90s Modem Dial-Up
The full 56k handshake: screeching, whistling, and clicking as two modems negotiate a connection over a phone line. It's the longest, weirdest sound on this list, and also the one that gets the biggest reaction from anyone who remembers waiting for it to finish before they could get online.
Need to convert your own retro audio rip to the right format? Use our MP3 to WAV converter →
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FAQ
Which sound on this list is the most popular?
The Windows XP shutdown chime, by a wide margin. It's the single most-downloaded sound in the entire library, retro or otherwise.
Are these sounds actually free?
Yes. Every download on teslalocksound.com is free, no account required, already formatted as LockChime.wav for Tesla's Boombox feature.
Do these sounds work on every Tesla model?
Custom lock sounds have been available since Tesla's 2023 Holiday Update (software 2023.44), so virtually every Tesla on current software supports them. If you don't see the Lock Sound option, update your software from Controls → Software.
Why do these old computer sounds work so well as lock chimes?
They were engineered to be noticed in a room without being obnoxious: short, mid-frequency, and unambiguous. That's the same brief as a car's lock confirmation, so a sound designed for a 2003 PC speaker translates cleanly through Tesla's external speaker.
Can I use a different retro sound on each of my cars?
Yes. Each Tesla reads its own USB drive independently, so you can put the XP shutdown chime on one car and the ICQ uh-oh on another.
