tiny11 massively shrinks Windows 11, slashes system requirements and eliminates the need for TPM

One of the various things that puts people off upgrading to Windows 11 is that the operating system has very particular system requirements. For someone looking to upgrade from Windows 7, for instance, it is likely that their hardware will not make the grade. There is an answer, however, in the form of tiny11.

Coming from the same team that was behind tiny10 -- NTDEV -- tiny11 is a majorly stripped-back, bare-bones version of Windows 11 Pro that dramatically lowers the system requirements. The operating system needs just 8GB of disk space and 2GB of RAM, and it does not require TPM (Trusted Platform Module) support. This sounds great, but there are a few caveats to keep in mind.

See also:

• Microsoft is pestering Windows 10 users with an incredibly deceptive Windows 11 upgrade nag screen
• Full-screen Microsoft 365 trial offer is blocking access to the Windows 10 desktop
• Microsoft insists that the Office-checking KB5021751 update does not infringe on privacy

The developers say of tiny11: "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".

The introductory video below shows off tiny11:

It is worth taking a read through this thread on Twitter where the developers explain some of the limitations, including:

1. Tiny11 is not serviceable, but .NET, drivers and security definition 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 its 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.

It goes without saying that Tiny11 is not endorsed by Microsoft in any way, and if you decide to take it for a test drive, you do so entirely at your own risk. You can download the software here.