Windt studied at the Sternsches Konservatorium in Berlin but left to enlist in the army at the start of World War I.
In 1920 Windt received a grant to study with the renowned Franz Schreker in the composer's master class at the Berlin Academy of Music.
Windt was offered a commission to write the music for UFA's 1933 film Morgenrot (Red Morning), a story about a gallant World War I U-boat crew.
Windt became one of the most significant film score composers of the Third Reich along with Wolfgang Zeller, Michael Jary, Franz Grothe, and Georg Haentzschel.
Despite the warm reception for his music in Nazi party circles, Windt himself fell into disfavor with the rulers of Germany in that period.