Introducing tiny11 a lightweight and debloated Windows 11 for less powerful PCs

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[satrow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8YIadhWbho

“After months of requests, tiny11 is finally here!
Based off of Windows 11 Pro 22H2, tiny11 has everything you need for a comfortable computing experience without the bloat and clutter of a standard Windows installation.
It just uses around 8GB of space compared to the 20+GB that a standard installation does.
You can upgrade from Windows 10 and install it on unsupported devices.”

keep in mind is that you still need a valid key to activate Tiny11—no piracy here

Get tiny11 from the link below:
https://archive.org/details/tiny-11_202302 [Mod edit; URL corrected]

https://www.neowin.net/news/tiny11-is-outa-lightweight-and-debloated-windows-11-for-less-powerful-computers/

• This topic was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by satrow. Reason: Bad URL (https://archive.org/details/tiny-11_2...) corrected

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Is Tiny a Microsoft product? Who owns and produces this product?

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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SupremeLaW

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https://twitter.com/NTDEV_/status/1621523335476551680

NTDEV @ntdev@mastodon.social
@NTDEV_

1. Tiny11 is not serviceable, but .NET, drivers and security definiton updates can still be installed from Windows Update.

2. While I can understand that installing modified versions of Windows can pose a security risk, I can assure you (and you can obviously check for yourself) that the image doesn’t have anything from external sources added to it.

3. The main way that tiny11 gets its small size is by the removal of Windows Component Store (WinSxS). As such, the installation of new features or languages is unfortunately not possible

4. At it’s core, tiny11 is designed to bring new life to old computers, so I don’t encourage installing it on PCs that support Windows 11 by default. This doesn’t mean that I don’t trust my product, but at one point the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.

5. This shouldn’t be considered a “Windows without telemetry/spyware” image, but one that was designed to run on PCs that don’t support the standard versions of Windows 11, in the same line that tiny10 did with Windows 10…

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geekdom wrote:

Is Tiny a Microsoft product? Who owns and produces this product?

No, it is not.
It is a tweaked Microsoft Windows 11.
Require a Windows license, gets Windows updates…

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SupremeLaW

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Alex,

Tiny11 intrigued me so I loaded it up on my Test Rig (DellXPS 8700) and I’m impressed!

So far:

Even though I did a clean install it recognized my digital license and loaded 11 Pro!

I loaded my PowerShell library and all my programs work just fine xmal forms and all.

Loaded RoboForm Everywhere and I now have all my passwords.

Loaded Macrium Reflect Free V6-1865 and it works perfectly. I took an image so I can switch back and forth between W10 & Tiny11.

Load Chrome with my extensions (RoboForm, NoScript, uBlock Origin, and Privacy Badger.

Setup a wallpaper with one of my pictures of Victoria Falls and gee you can now display it across both monitors in my dual monitor setup.

Didn’t think I’d like 11 based on my earlier force load but this version is growing on me. It’s very snappy and the display scaling seems to work much better than it did in 10. I have my 2 27″ displays set at 125% and the Text adjusted to 120% and I haven’t seen any problems.

What I still don’t like is the need for extra clicks necessary in most right-click menus, the fact that I can’t add my own toolbars (I have quite an elaborate setup that I can’t use in 11).

Other that the toolbar problem I haven’t found anything I can’t do with Tiny11.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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redMagna, Vincenzo, SupremeLaW, Alex5723, satrow, Cybertooth, cyberSAR

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Has anyone tried to copy tiny11 into a ramdisk and then to boot from that ramdisk?

Now that tiny11 and its variants have “down-sized” the storage requirements for C:,  and

given the sheer amount of DRAM that mid-range PCs now support …

… it seems feasible now — in theory — to write a drive image of tiny11 after installation to a SSD, and then to restore that drive image to a ramdisk sized e.g. 5 to 10GB.

Our HP Z240 workstations support up to 64GB of DDR4.

Thus, a 10GB ramdisk would still leave 50GB+ of available memory for all OS and application software to utilize normally.

Yes, I fully understand that DRAM is volatile.  Any quality UPS should be reliable enough to supply power to a PC without random interruptions.

In the event that such a PC must be SHUTDOWN, forcing memory to he “wiped”, it should not be too difficult to follow a routine sequence to re-format the ramdisk and to restore a working drive image of the OS as initially installed on an SSD.

Years ago, we proposed a similar concept that required enhancements to a motherboard’s BIOS, chiefly because the majority of motherboards do NOT recognize ramdisks as bootable devices.  Those Provisional Patent Applications expired long ago.

And, the few “hits” we get searching YT and with Google, typically find solutions that require creation of a VM (virtual machine).

And, this video demonstrates doing so with Windows 7, but there is no audio and the User moves too fast to appreciate the details:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va3PmHZwUtQ

 

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Install Windows 11 on RAM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9zEIJiy5Uk

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FYI: found this at Intel’s website:

1.2.2.6. Boot from RAM on Warm Reset

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683265/current/boot-from-ram-on-warm-reset.html

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Chris Titus:

Tiny11 has problems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UVKfliA_Rc

Chris also says @ 2:30 on the counter:  “… mainly because it’s illegal.”

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RetiredGeek wrote:

I haven’t found anything I can’t do with Tiny11.

You must know that the big cut in OS storage space was due to the removal of winsxs (mine is 9.8GB in size) which will disable Windows from restoring drivers, dll files…But is part of the “price” to pay 🙂

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SupremeLaW

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Here’s a very interesting article on WinSxS.

It will be interested going forward how this plays out as Win 11 gets updates. I’ll keep y’all informed on my journey.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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SupremeLaW, Cybertooth, Alex5723

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WHAT IF …

… bulky OS folders could be MOVED to other storage devices e.g. HDD

with a Registry fix that re-directs the OS to the same folder on that HDD?

“De-Bloating” implies reducing the sheer number of executing Processes

-AND-

reducing the sheer amount of storage required on the C: partition.

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Well, today I went on a tear to install software all successful:

• Foxit Reader
• NotePad++
• Open Shell
• Office/Microsoft 365

The only issue was with Open Shell which I had to go into the program directory and run the Settings program then it came up properly. Although, it doesn’t replace the Windows default start button on the task bar only overlays it. This is with the task bar positioned on the left of the screen.

I finally hit the first failure when I tried to run Windows Update. After 5 tries & reboots KB 5022360 (Build 22621.1194) will not install!

I’ve also run into a problem with the Memory Protection feature but that is due to the old Radeon 7500 card in the PC (latest driver is dated 2016!). Searched Dell and AMD and there is no newer driver! So I just clicked the Dismiss button.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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RetiredGeek wrote:

The only issue was with Open Shell which I had to go into the program directory and run the Settings program then it came up properly. Although, it doesn’t replace the Windows default start button on the task bar only overlays it. This is with the task bar positioned on the left of the screen.

Have you tried using the most recent Open-Shell v4.4.189 pre-release?
So much has been fixed or changed that pertains to Win11 since 4.4.170 final
https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu/releases

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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SupremeLaW, Cybertooth

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RetiredGeek wrote:

KB 5022360 (Build 22621.1194) will not install!

Its a preview. Check settings.

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SupremeLaW

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I see no indication that it is a Preview?

I set Group Policy to not show Previews.

Tried installing manually after clearing SoftwareDistribution folder. Same result.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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SupremeLaW

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Normally anything issued outside of Patch Tuesday is a Preview or OOB.

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geekdom, SupremeLaW, Alex5723

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But we don’t live in ‘normal’ times, lol 👍🏻

Cheers

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RetiredGeek wrote:

I see no indication that it is a Preview?

I set Group Policy to not show Previews.

Tried installing manually after clearing SoftwareDistribution folder. Same result.

January 26, 2023—KB5022360 (OS Build 22621.1194) Preview

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https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tiny11-lean-windows-11

De-Bloated Windows 11 Build Runs on 2GB of RAM

By Mark Tyson

Tiny11 uses 8GB of disk space, compared to 20GB+ for the standard install.

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geekdom

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This is a very interesting development, imho.

It just so happens that yesterday I wrote a long THANK YOU letter to Spectrum’s field service Supervisor, after he did a great job tuning up my new 1G Internet connection and cable modem.

In that letter I explored some of the problems I’ve encountered re-purposing older PCs as backup storage servers, and upgrading their NICs to 2.5GbE and faster e.g. with Sabrent’s excellent NT-SS5G USB 3.0 “dongle”.

Would this tiny11 be a promising OS to host such a backup storage server?

Most of the time, I run custom .bat BATCH files that make heavy use of XCOPY to and from Windows Network Drives.

Are Command Prompt and the entire BATCH command set also supported?

In particular, I’d be very interested to read anyone’s experience installing a 2.5GbE adapter and its device driver with this tiny11 OS.

I will LUV to read your reply(s) here.

MANY THANKS!!

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https://www.tomshardware.com/news/stripped-down-windows-11-os-runs-on-200-mb-of-ram

Stripped Down Windows 11 OS Runs on 200 MB of RAM

By Mark Tyson

published about 24 hours ago

Enthusiasts battle to boot tiny11 with the least memory.

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Alex5723

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Hi

I installed  Tiny11 on a virtual machine, to test it out, when I click activate it tells me it can’t reach the licence server.

I’m a home user just wanting to give it a try

Any help would be great

Thanks
Richard

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You need a Windows license for Tiny 11 like any other Windows installation.

keep in mind is that you still need a valid key to activate Tiny11—no piracy here

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Alex5723 wrote:

You need a Windows license for Tiny 11 like any other Windows installation.

keep in mind is that you still need a valid key to activate Tiny11—no piracy here

Hi

I understand that, but it doesn’t give me the option to enter a key, just says it cant find the licence server

I thought maybe I’d installed it as an administrator or something.

Thanks
Rich

 

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You need a network connection from the VM to the internet. Do you have one?

cheers, Paul

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The internet is working fine

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Hi, I’ve registered….Yay

I thought a Screen shot might help. As you can see it’s asking to connect to my ‘Organizations Activation Server’

Should I reinstall with different options or something?

Thanks AGain
Richard

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Looks like you are using a volume license and that requires a licensing server.

cheers, Paul

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You need a Retail license (not OEM, not volume).

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Well, it seems that this is somewhat of a bust. It works well enough and it will do most updates, however, it will NOT update the latest Cumulative Update!

I’ve been through 3 iterations of this:

SC config trustedinstaller start=auto
net stop bits
net stop wuauserv
net stop msiserver
net stop cryptsvc
cd %windir%
Ren SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
cd %windir%\System32
Ren Catroot2 Catroot2.old
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /ScanHealth
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /CheckHealth
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth
dism /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup
Sfc /ScanNow

W/O any success keep getting both Install and Download Errors.
Time to restore the Win 10 image…

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Alex5723

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tiny11 for Arm64

“By popular request, tiny11 for Arm64 devices is finally here!
This version of tiny11 is great for mobile devices, including Raspberry Pi 4, other WoA devices or Apple M1/M2 VMs!

Based off of Windows 11 Pro 22H2, tiny11 has everything you need for a comfortable computing experience without the bloat and clutter of a standard Windows installation.”

https://twitter.com/NTDEV_/status/1625949087282434081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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How to build your own tiny11 (create lightweight Windows image)

“The long-requested video on how to make your own tiny11 is finally here! These are basically the exact steps that were done to create tiny11 beta 2. Fully transparent, no strings attached.

To download MSMG toolkit, visit https://msmgtoolkit.in/
To download NTLite, visit https://www.ntlite.com/download/
“

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Hi All

I have installed tiny11 on a dell which had Widows 10 on it, the activation code is for windows home, but tiny 11 installs the Enterprise version.

Is there a way to install as home, or downgrade the install I have?

Thanks
Richard

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Installed T11B2 on my 8 year old Dell Inspiron laptop and it runs just fine!
I had no problems creating the bootable USB using RUFUS. Only problem encountered was the 2+ hours it took to download the ISO from the Internet Archive.

I’m currently testing the WinGet command on PowerShell to install all my favorite software. This thing is great no browser needed!

I’ll report back when the testing is done.

[Update] See the test results here.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Cybertooth

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now at YouTube:

Tiny 11 Is A Super Fast Stripped Down Version Of Windows 11, Needs On Only 2GB Ram!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_l0plCryFg

Tiny11 by NTDEV Is a super lite weight and optimized custom build of Windows 11 That runs on systems with as little as 2GB of RAM, It takes up just 8GB of disk space and no TPM 2.0 Is required so running Tiny 11 on older systems not supported officially by windows 11 is easy. In this video show you how to download and Install Tiny 11 on your PC or laptop.

[end quote]

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Cybertooth

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That one YouTube video has 1,611 Comments since February 15, 2023 .

I’ve been perusing those Comments:  very educational!

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Ok, here’s my experience with Tiny11B2 when it comes to updating. Remember that in my trials with Tiny11B1 it would NOT do a Cumulative update.

So when I went into Windows Update there were several updates available so I told it to install.

Results:

Next it popped up with this, the dreaded Cumulative Update 2023-02.

So I clicked Install and by gosh it worked!

I’ll report back when the March updates become available.
However, for now it looks like Tiny11B2 will do updates!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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SupremeLaW

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Think back to the dawn of PCI-Express, successor to PCI.

PCI-Express has been a fabulous concept, from DAY ONE, for enabling customization with addition and removal of discrete hardware components.

Windows Device Manager made it relatively easy to add, update and remove device drivers.  Not purr-fect, but it does the job almost all of the time.  There are still problems with signed and unsigned drivers, but there are also known workarounds which do the job almost all of the time e.g.:

bcdedit /set nointegritychecks ON

bcdedit /set nointegritychecks OFF

 

Case in point:  our older PCs have been re-purposed as backup storage servers;  and, we finally upgraded almost all of our LAN to 2.5GbE speed.  The XP PCs could not upgraded due to the lack of supported device drivers, so they’ll stay at 1 Gigabit.

Imho, it makes perfect sense to “modularize” Windows so as to guarantee that unwanted and unneeded software components can be discarded, at the same time Windows Updates shall remain available for the modules that ARE wanted and needed.

Why MS does not recognize this as a valuable, and useful market niche is beyond me.

 

Bottom Line:  this option is a natural response to excess complexity.

 

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Cybertooth

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Chris Titus Tech — 11 Microsoft Professional Certifications!

Microsoft is DESTROYING Windows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7JmN8_URGY

2,762 Comments

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Cybertooth

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SupremeLaW wrote:

Microsoft is DESTROYING Windows

So, why are my installations working so well?  And that’s not even close to the way I deal with printer problems.

I’ve seen a number of YouTube videos along these same lines, and every one that I’ve watched are by folks who seem to want to stay handcuffed to the Windows Start Menu and a mod-free Windows installation.  They either imply or call themselves power users, but demonstrate no use of power, other than using the Run box like it’s a magic tool.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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SupremeLaW wrote:

Chris Titus Tech — 11 Microsoft Professional Certifications!

Microsoft is DESTROYING Windows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7JmN8_URGY

“Right-click commands are not even working for me here — could be something I did …”

In half the time he spent recording that video he could have learnt how to access all that he needs from settings instead of control panel. It’s significant that he doesn’t mention anything he was unable to do just because it looks different.

SupremeLaW wrote:

2,762 Comments

One of those YouTube comments:

Josh Hardin 2 weeks ago
The control panel is the old way of doing things and microsoft has been attempting to deprecate it slowly since windows 8. it isn’t necessary anymore. I am an IT consultant and troubleshoot machines every day and haven’t really had any reason to go into the control panel for a really long time. with regards to printers you click on the start menu (or hit the windows key) type printers, and you open “printers and scanners” if you want the properties box for the printer, you click the printer, and then click “printer properties”, if you want the hardware properties you click “hardware properties” it’s really not that hard. to add a printer you click “add device” and then it does a preliminary network search, and you can add it from there or if it doesn’t pop up or you need more advanced configuration, connect to a printer server or whatever, you click on the “add manually” button and up pops the same “add printer” dialog box that they’ve been using since windows 7 (I really hope they deprecate this in favor of an approach that ties in with the settings application a little better). The settings application is the DIRECT replacement for the control panel. the control panel and it’s applets are really only there for legacy users and I suspect that it will be going away completely in windows 12. it’s had it’s day, they’ve just moved to a friendlier interface that’s usually easier to use.

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SupremeLaW

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Reminder : there is a Tiny10 OS version

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SupremeLaW

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Tiny10 Version 2303 Is Updatable, Occupies Just 5.2GB
By Mark Tyson
published 1 day ago

Final Tiny10 release is aimed at those with “a truly old computer.”

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tiny10-version-2303-is-updatableoccupies-just-52gb

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Alex5723

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So, maybe MS has made an OS that is better for average non tech users.  But that will not do much good until they fix their Updating System!

Stepping down off my soapbox now.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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SupremeLaW

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see “Win Update Stop”

https://www.novirusthanks.org/

https://www.winupdatestop.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4kHdvqo3y8

 

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$9 per year?

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SupremeLaW wrote:

see “Win Update Stop”

I have no intention of stopping automatic updates, since I’m not in a business environment, and I keep multiple copies (including offline) of weekly drive images going back 3 months.  If an update pooches something (which has yet to happen), I can return to my prior state in a matter of minutes.

In my view this is much simpler than trying to block updates which, in my experience, improve my Windows platform.  I do have to re-uninstall Edge and WebView2 from time to time, but that’s trivial with Revo Uninstaller.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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SupremeLaW, joep517

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This is our first-order approximation for:

OS Complexity “C” ~= ((n^2) – n) / 2

where “n” = number of executing OS processes (cf. Windows Task Manager)

“C” can be illustrated graphically on a flat sheet of paper:

each “process” is a single point

each line segment connects a pair of points

a line segment represents a single contingency

if n = 3, C = 3

if n = 4, C = 6

if n = 5, C = 10

if n = 6, C = 15

etc.

Our Windows 10 Pro x64 Task Manager reports:  212 processes

C = (  (212^2) – 212 ) / 2  =  22,366

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SupremeLaW wrote:

Our Windows 10 Pro x64 Task Manager reports: 212 processes

My Windows 10 Pro x64 Task Manager reports 176 processes.

SupremeLaW wrote:

C = ( (212^2) – 212 ) / 2 = 22,366

C=((176²)-176)/2=15400

My Windows 11 Pro x64 Task Manager reports 174 processes.

C=((174²)-174)/2=15051

I’ve trimmed 36 processes from Windows 10 Pro, 38 processes from Windows 11 Pro, meaning OS complexity can be reduced.  In my experience, a reduction in complexity yields an increase in efficiency and reliability.  I have a number of unnecessary Services disabled, as they are not in any way needed in my Windows platform.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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SupremeLaW

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15,051 / 22,366  =  67.3%

in other words, using a crude measure of Complexity “C”,

you reduced aggregate Complexity by almost one-third.

If we were to use the same formula, but we input the number of “threads” instead of the number of “processes”, the reduction in C is even more dramatic.

FYI:  on our Windows 10 Pro x64 HP workstation, Task Manager reports a constantly varying number of “threads” averaging 2,000 at any one moment.

C  =  ((2,000^2) – 2000) / 2  =  1,999,000

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Hey Y’all,

Just successfully installed the March cumulative update in Tiny11B2!

I’m lovin’ this on my 8 year old laptop. Currently in the process of setting it up to mimic my daily Win10-Pro driver. So far so good!

Just upgraded my 2 StartIsBack licenses to StartAllBack (3.99! what a deal). I really love this program on W11 looks great and feels like what I’m used to including giving me back my custom toolbars on the taskbar, I was really missing this!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Proving once again that WE BOOMERS RULE THE GALAXY

(secretly, not openly).

 

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bbearren wrote:

I’ve trimmed 36 processes from Windows 10 Pro, 38 processes from Windows 11 Pro, meaning OS complexity can be reduced.  In my experience, a reduction in complexity yields an increase in efficiency and reliability.

(Still) The holy grail of disabling Windows services.

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SupremeLaW

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Alex5723 wrote:

(Still) The holy grail of disabling Windows services.

I’m running Windows 11.  My NAS runs Windows 10 and it’s purring along just fine with my services configuration.

From the archived Windows 10 service configurations:

“Make sure that your system is up to date.

This information assumes the latest version of Windows 10 with all major updates installed.
Hit Start -> Settings -> Update & Security -> Check now/Install now.”

Seems contrary to the common advice here at AskWoody.  At any rate, I’m quite comfortable with my own methods.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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SupremeLaW

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Re: “Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”

a time-honored engineering principle is this:

the simplest solution is the best solution

compare “Occam’s Razor”:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Occams-razor

The principle gives precedence to simplicity:

of two competing theories,

the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred.

The principle is also expressed as

“Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”

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Cybertooth

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p.s.  Ockham was not without his faults, however.

For example:

“Motion is merely the reappearance of a thing in a different place.”

Thusly, if I hold a pencil “motionless” at arm’s length,

AND I happen to live on the Earth’s Equator, THEN

it still travels 1,466 feet every second.

1,000 mph at Equator x 5,280 feet per mile / 3,600 seconds per hour  =  1,466 ft/sec.

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LAFTR BRK:

When I was still in high school, our English teacher directed this question to one of our less intelligent classmates:

“What were the Knights of the Round Table searching for?”

Roland’s answer:  “The Holy Quail!”

(Roland’s claim to fame was his uncanny ability to pull down my Quarterback bullet passes, but he still returned to the huddle complaining about his bruised sternum.)

The laughter uproar was so loud, we couldn’t hear another word from the Teacher!

The Holy Quail finally materialized in the Person of the Vice President of the United States!

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Charlie

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I’m having problems installing Tiny 11 on an old PC which does run W10, but is running in MBR. I used Rufus to prepare a USB stick in MBR and tried to boot up from it but it just sits there showing a blue window and makes no progress. I tried to run the prog from inside W10 and get an error message
Any help would be appreciated

A1ex

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Alex,

You need to convert the OS drive to GPT:

Support UEFI and Secure Boot Modes in BIOS: As stated earlier, Microsoft has required UEFI support and secure boot modes in BIOS for Windows 11 installation. Therefore, make sure you meet this requirement before proceeding with the installation.
GPT Disk Type for OS Drive: Your OS drive should be the GPT type to install Windows 11. But, nothing to worry about here because this article is all about installing Windows 11 on the MBR partition.

Most third party Patition Management software supports this feature, although some only in the upgraded paid versions.

Source for above quote.

Update: Nuibi Partition Editor does this in the free version. Note: The current Portable edition does not work, you’ll have to use the installed version or at least try it as I use the portable version.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

2 users thanked author for this post.

A1ex, SupremeLaW

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Just out of my own curiosity (because I don’t plan to try Tiny11),

during a fresh installation, does it not require the User to format the C: drive?

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Being an OLD guy I can’t remember if it was required, but since the whole Idea is to have a small footprint OS I thought it best to start out fresh and deleted all existing partitions from the drive before booting from the install media.

That said, Formatting a drive will NOT change it from MBR to GPT. You need to use a tool like DiskPart, MBR2GPT.exe or a third party Partition Manager. Of course when selecting the partition to install windows to you use the buttons to delete all the existing partitions that should accomplish the task also. In any case you better have backups!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

2 users thanked author for this post.

A1ex, SupremeLaW

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We have had great success with Partition Wizard, BUT

as you point out, the freeware versions of these partition utilities may not support the feature that performs changes from MBR to GPT e.g.:

https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

cf. “Convert OS Disk from MBR to GPT” is ONLY available with the “Pro” version.

 

FYI:  a little history here:  MBR partitions are limited to 2TB (if my memory is correct), and that was one of the major motivations to create a new format for monster HDDs with much larger partitions e.g. larger than 2TB.

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Tiny installed well but THERE WAS NO BROWSER! WTF! Can’t connect to anything.  Tiny is gone.

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Wow. This is interesting that MS has not slapped a stop order on this. It is interesting to de- bloat the crapware that Windows 11 is now to run on less hard drive space and RAM. I might to try it one of the months after running several Monte Carlo simulation to see what risk this might be. I never make an decision until run it at least 1000 times.

Too bad that they did not remove the MS spyware…it would have been great. If they did, i would have skipped running the sim. The Monte Carlo simulation that I ran a year back was that it was 34% save to use Windows 11 if it did not have MS spyware. otherwise it was 45% unsafe to use Windows 11. This is why i never will use Windows 11.

Alex5723 wrote:

5. This shouldn’t be considered a “Windows without telemetry/spyware” image, but

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Just successfully applied the April cumulative updates to the Tiny11B2 install on my old Dell laptop. Working great. Looks like I’ll be sticking with this OS for the aging Dell (2015).

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

2 users thanked author for this post.

Alex5723, SupremeLaW

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Did it come with a browser, as mentioned by webweweave? I see you said you installed Chrome.

cheers, Paul

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SupremeLaW

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https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/make-lightweight-windows-11-image-tiny11-builder

..Installing a Browser in Tiny11

It’s important to note that Edge is not installed, though you may see a blank Edge icon on the desktop. So, if you want to install a web browser, you will need to either copy the installer from another PC, use Microsoft Store or use the winget command at the command line. Entering winget install -e –id Google.Chrome will download and install Chrome…

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SupremeLaW

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How is it protected against malware/viruses?

Can I instal say Norton 360 on it?

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SupremeLaW

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akaBoris,

Why would you want to? It comes with Windows Defender, which unless you plumb the depths of the web, should be all you need IMHO.

P.S. you can install anything you want on it just like full blown windows.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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“Live11 is an optimized tiny11 image that was designed to fit on a 4GB (!) VHD, and that it runs completely on RAM. Since it’s only 4GB, this means that it can fit on a single DVD, making this possibly the first Windows 11 live DVD.”

https://twitter.com/NTDEV_/status/1647046791693582336

Introducing live11 – a tiny11 live image (tech demo)

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Many moons ago we filed a provisional patent application for enhancing a motherboard BIOS to allow booting directly into a memory-resident OS.  To simplify, this involved 2 broad steps:

(1)  boot into that enhanced BIOS so as to read a drive image of C: and restore it to an NTFS partition formatted in RAM, just like a ramdisk

(2)  assuming no intervening power loss that wipes RAM, subsequent re-boots point to that C: partition, just as it would if C: were hosted on a HDD or SSD — transparently

This concept had lots of potential, not merely the obvious performance advantages.

Just as one discrete example, we were hoping Intel would build SO-DIMMs with Optane.

In theory, the Optane would continue to store that memory-resident OS even after normal SHUTDOWN.  A standard BIOS setting simply points to that “ramdisk” during normal STARTUP, just like any other “boot drive”.

Another variation on the latter theme resurrected triple-channel architectures:  1 of 3 channels would host the OS on Optane DIMMs.  2 of 3 and 3 of 3 would host modern higher-speed DDR4 onward.

The latter variation would also require changes to the memory controller, to support DRAM channels with different clock speeds.

Somewhere on YT there is a video of a Prosumer who installed Windows in a memory-resident VM, and I do remember how delighted he was to experience its extraordinary speed.

FYI, those 2 provisional patent applications are still archived here:

http://supremelaw.org/patents/bios.enhancements/provisional.application.2.htm

http://supremelaw.org/patents/bios.enhancements/provisional.application.1.htm

They expired, and we never did anything more with them, except for sharing them in relevant User Forums.

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The second provisional patent application merely elaborated on the first application, by describing how this general concept could allow a fresh OS INSTALL directly into a memory-resident “ramdisk” partition.

The enhanced BIOS would have code required to “Format RAM”, and from that point forward the OS installation proceeds transparently, in a manner identical to a fresh OS install to a standard HDD or SSD.

Clearly, the volatility of standard RAM is an issue that requires an elegant solution.

That volatility was the main reason why the first provisional patent application assumed a working drive image would be restored directly to a ramdisk formatted by the motherboard BIOS.

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Another “thought experiment” variation:

assuming a working OS is already installed on an SSD, THEN:

(a)  format a ramdisk of sufficient size e.g. upper-most 4GB of DRAM

(b)  run Partition Wizard to “Migrate OS” to that ramdisk

(c)  re-boot into the BIOS to select ramdisk as boot drive, instead of the SSD

Clearly, at point (c) above, that ramdisk will NOT be recognized as a “bootable partition” by almost every modern motherboard BIOS;  hence, the need for “BIOS enhancements”.

Shrinking Windows 11 to a small subset, removing all “bloatware”, makes this “Migrate OS” approach much more feasible.

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Re:  the volatility of standard RAM

NVMe is non-volatile.

We ran some performance numbers several months ago.

A “4×4” add-in card hosting 4 x PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs in RAID-0 had a MAX bandwidth that was very close to lots of standard DDR4, no overclocking.

Also, wiring PCIe expansion slots directly to the CPU now effectively exploits idle CPU cores, and renders NVMe RAID arrays as a non-volatile alternative to DRAM.

As such, the performance advantages of hosting C: on a ramdisk were rendered somewhat obsolete by the dawn of very high-speed NVMe RAID arrays.

Nevertheless, a routine STARTUP from such an NVMe RAID array STILL involves a lot of “copying” from that RAID array into DRAM.

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Here’s some simple math comparing 4 x PCIe 4.0 M.2 in RAID-0 with DDR4-3600:

16G / 8.125 x 4 lanes per M.2 = 7,876.9 MB/second per PCIe 4.0 M.2

assume a “4×4” RAID-0 array:
4 @ 7,876.9 in RAID-0 = 31,507.6 MB/second (zero controller overhead)

Compare DDR4-3600:
3,600 x 8 = 28,800 MB/second raw bandwidth (no overclocking)

Thus, both are equal if the controller overhead of the RAID-0 array is ~8.5% (31,507 x 0.915).

Typically, the real controller overhead of such RAID-0 arrays is somewhat higher, depending on the efficiency of any vendor’s design.

BOTTOM LINE:

consider hosting the Windows C: partition on a RAID-0 array of 4 x PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSDs.

Bootable 4×4 AICs are now being sold by Highpoint.

 

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Re:  “tech demo”

Correct me if I am in error on this point:

That “tech demo” does a fresh install of the entire “tiny11” OS.

Would it be faster to restore a working drive image of that same OS?

Also, what is “SVBus driver”, please?

Perhaps an acronym for “Storage Virtual Bus”?

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Tiny10 x64 23H1

“NTDEV
@NTDEV_
After months of requests, tiny10 23H1 x64 is finally here, and just like tiny10 x86 and tiny11, it brings back a very important feature: the component store! This means that now you can add new languages and features, while still being a lightweight and dependable image.”

“This release of tiny10 x64 can also be updated, which means that it will stay secure while maintaining its low profile.
This release is intended for those who want just the core Windows experience while still having all the critical features and ALL security components!”

“Last, but certainly not least, those who have an older version of tiny10 can upgrade to this release with no issues! It’s basically just an in-place upgrade that should run smoothly.”

The ISO is available in the tiny10 Internet Archive repository. Just look for tiny10 23h1 x64.iso”

https://archive.org/details/tiny-10_202301

2 users thanked author for this post.

SupremeLaW, RetiredGeek

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Windows 11 on just 176MB of RAM

”
NTDEV
@NTDEV_
Behold, another possible world record!
Windows 11 on just 176MB of RAM, about 23 times smaller than the official system requirements (4GB of RAM)!
The base system is a heavily trimmed down image of tiny11.
Pointless and unnecessary? Absolutely!
Impressive? You tell me.”

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tiny10 23H2 x64

“NTDEV
@NTDEV_
The big refresh begins!
Introducing tiny10 23H2 x64! This much-requested release of tiny10 is a pretty major departure from previous versions in multiple ways that fixes lots of nagging issues that people have reported.
It’s also been rebuild using OSS utilities.

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tiny11 23H2 released

After more than 6 months of waiting, tiny11 23H2 is here! Just like with tiny10 23H2, this new release has been rebuilt using the open-source OSDBuilder PowerShell tool, as well as some NTLite tweaking! This ensures perfect compatibility with most Windows components, so that even if they aren’t there by default in a clean install, they can be loaded afterwards.
Also, for the first time, you can make your very own tiny11! Here you’ll also find the OSDBuilder script needed to make your own similar image of tiny11! A how-to video which shows the creation of this exact ISO will be published in the following days on my Patreon channel.

Tiny11 23H2 fixes some nagging issues like the lack of Xbox Identity Provider and also removes some rarely-used components like Tablet PC Math.
SHA-256 checksum: F260E50BF9AFAFD8F972A729402A557AADCD3A227918FC566CF42D48AA723A85
The Arm build will be released in a later date…

https://youtu.be/Jili3CD_74s

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You can upgrade from Tiny10 to Tiny11

”
NTDEV
@NTDEV_
So you finally decided to upgrade to tiny11! In this video I will show you how to do it, step by step, from tiny10.
https://t.co/kpRJITBFzQ “

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New Tiny11 core beta 1

2GB ISO

Back to the basics.

Tiny11 core brings everything you love about Windows and tiny11, in a much smaller footprint.
This makes it great for scenarios where you need to run Windows in a VM or for testing purposes (like testing a driver or an application).
To achieve this, some significant changes had to be made, including (but not limited to):
Windows Component Store (WinSxS)
Windows Defender
Recovery Agent
Microsoft Edge
Windows Update..

It is based on Windows 11 Pro 23H2 build 22631.2361.

Make sure to have network drivers ready, as tiny11 core removes most of them to achieve a smaller footprint…

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https://twitter.com/NTDEV_/status/1728259859249049770

NTDEV
@NTDEV_
With a new, easier to understand naming scheme and a number of major improvements, tiny11 2311 is finally here! Based on the *actual* 23H2 release of Windows 11, the new release is a whopping 20% smaller than the old tiny11 23H2 image it replaces, while being even more functional

NTDEV
@NTDEV_
Overall, tiny11 2311 fixes most, if not all of the nagging issues with previous releases of tiny11, all while being smaller and even more flexible.
To download it, check out https://archive.org/download/tiny-11_202302/tiny11%202311%20×64.iso
As always, feedback is very much appreciated!

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MS is the driver of this (windows) vehicle. I would be reticent to use somebody else’s version. Seems a bit like grabbing a license enabled torrent and using that – you have no idea what else has been added/modified/changed. Yes, It would be nice if MS would add the option to not have SXS, but it would go against their belief system that updates are supposedly removable if they are bad. A short-term SXS would be nice but they will never do it – deciding when to throw away the info to back out an update is very difficult. jenga

Just my 2 cents.

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SupremeLaW

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see

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/clean-up-the-winsxs-folder?view=windows-11

to reduce the size of your sxs.

ALWAYS TAKE AN IMAGE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!

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SupremeLaW

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a wrote:

Just my 2 cents.

You can do much of the same using nlite

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Alex5723 wrote:

a wrote:

Just my 2 cents.

You can do much of the same using nlite

Yes but that’s MS vs somebody else.

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a wrote:

Yes but that’s MS vs somebody else.

nlite is also MS vs somebody you.
There is no difference.

If your hardware is Intel 14 Gen CPU, Nvidia 4070 GPU, 64GB of RAM, 4TB of SSD.. you don’t need tiny 11.
But,
If your unsupported hardware has Intel 3xxx CPU, 1GB of RAM, GPU build into CPU, 20GB of HDD…and you want to test/run Windows 11, Tiny11 is for you.

Tiny11 makes Windows 11 run on low-end unsupported systems

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New version :

“NTDEV
@NTDEV_
With a new, easier to understand naming scheme and a number of major improvements, tiny11 2311 is finally here! Based on the *actual* 23H2 release of Windows 11, the new release is a whopping 20% smaller than the old tiny11 23H2 image it replaces, while being even more functional”

”
NTDEV
@NTDEV_
Apart from being based on the latest Windows 11 update, tiny 2311 is also fully updateable to the next cumulative updates of Windows! The issues that affected this ability should now be fixed. This means that tiny11 2311 is fully serviceable.”

“You can also enjoy from the new Windows 11 23H2 features like Copilot, but only if you want to have them! You just have to install Edge using Winget and voila, you have Copilot on tiny11!

It’s all about choice!

Just like with the previous release, components like the Xbox functionality have been stripped only to their bare bones, but by installing an Xbox game it can be brought to full functionality. You can also add .net 3.5 or new languages!

Overall, tiny11 2311 fixes most, if not all of the nagging issues with previous releases of tiny11, all while being smaller and even more flexible.”

https://archive.org/details/tiny11-2311

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Can I update the original Tiny11 with Tiny11-2311 or will it have to be installed from scratch?
A1ex

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A1ex wrote:

Can I update the original Tiny11 with Tiny11-2311 or will it have to be installed from scratch?
A1ex

You can run in-place update

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A1ex

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That may be possible, yes but, one thing to consider is, if/when Microsoft change something in a monthly CU patch that breaks tiny11, whereby a security patch can’t be installed, you had better have a pre-tiny11 image of the ‘uncut’ W11 at the ready..

If debian is good enough for NASA...

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A1ex

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New Tiny11 Builder

Scripts to build a trimmed-down Windows 11 image – now in PowerShell!
Tiny11 builder, now completely overhauled.
After more than a year (for which I am so sorry) of no updates, tiny11 builder is now a much more complete and flexible solution – one script fits all. Also, it is a steppingstone for an even more fleshed-out solution.
You can now use it on ANY Windows 11 release (not just a specific build), as well as ANY language or architecture. This is made possible thanks to the much-improved scripting capabilities of PowerShell, compared to the older Batch release.
Since it is written in PowerShell, make sure to set the execution policy to Unrestricted, so that you could run the script. If you haven’t done this before, make sure to run:
Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted
as administrator in PowerShell before running the script, otherwise it would just crash…

Instructions:

Download Windows 11 from the Microsoft website (https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11)

Mount the downloaded ISO image using Windows Explorer.

Select the drive letter where the image is mounted (only the letter, no colon (:))

Select the SKU that you want the image to be based.

Sit back and relax 🙂

When the image is completed, you will see it in the folder where the script was extracted, with the name tiny11.iso

What is removed: Clipchamp, News, Weather, Xbox (although Xbox Identity provider is still here, so it should be possible to be reinstalled with no issues), GetHelp, GetStarted, Office Hub, Solitaire, PeopleApp, PowerAutomate, ToDo, Alarms, Mail and Calendar, Feedback Hub, Maps, Sound Recorder, Your Phone, Media Player, QuickAssist, Internet Explorer, Tablet PC Math, Edge, OneDrive..

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https://twitter.com/NTDEV_/status/1784991319284216016

“The first update to tiny11 builder is now up!
It disables telemetry as well as some of the scheduled tasks associated with it.
Go check it out and let me know how it works!

https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder

It’s actually much more intricate than one might think to just take ownership of some registry keys (especially when using only PowerShell), but in the end I managed to do it
I also learnt about the fact that some handles are still active even after they finished their thing.”

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SupremeLaW

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Tiny11 builder – 01-05-24 release

This new release of tiny11 builder enables the ability to use images that has ESD files instead of the standard WIM. It also suppresses some of the output, making it a bit easier to track what is going on.
It also cleans up the last remains of Edge! Last, but not least, it fixes an issue with logging…

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SupremeLaW

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Tiny11core for Windows 24H2

“Better late than never! Tiny11core maker has been updated to finally support 24H2. Apologies for the delay and thank you for sticking around supporting the project.”

https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder

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