How do I get Windows 10 to chime / beep on the hour?

Question 1

I'd like the computer to beep on the hour without having to install an entire third party software just for this.

I tried using Task Scheduler for this, following the steps outlined here, but when I set the task to run a program so I can play a chime, like this...

wmplayer.exe %windir%\media\ding.wav

...It doesn't work (nothing happens), even though it works on the Run dialog. When I explicitly click "Run now" (it's first set to run on a scheduled time), also nothing happens. And when I set it to display a message or send an email instead, it displays an error which apparently means the feature's been deprecated (and the method on that website didn't work either).

So, is there any way to achieve this natively on Windows 10? When I used a Mac, a few years ago, all you had to do was check an option telling the system clock to chime on the hour. I don't get why this VERY SIMPLE AND USEFUL THING needs to be this difficult.

Question 2

Here is a solution which:

Doesn't require any additional software to be installed
Works on all versions of Windows from XP to 11
Doesn't display anything on screen whilst the sound is playing

Save the following code somewhere on your computer with a vbs extension (for example, play_sound.vbs):

Option Explicit

' Change the path and filename below
Dim sound : sound = "C:\Windows\Media\Alarm01.wav"

Dim o : Set o = CreateObject("wmplayer.ocx")
With o
    .url = sound
    .controls.play
    While .playstate <> 1
        wscript.sleep 100
    Wend
    .close
End With

Set o = Nothing

Change the C:\Windows\Media\Alarm01.wav to the full path and filename of the sound you want to play. I've tested files ending wav and mp3 and they work fine, there are probably other formats which work too.

Double click on it and you'll find the sound plays.

Now all you need to do is create a Scheduled Task to call this script every hour on the hour.

Finally, if you're interested, here is a page where you can download the hourly chime that comes from those retro Casio digital watches.