The developer NTDev is known for testing the limits of Microsoft's operating systems, and their latest feat is no exception. They managed to run Windows 11 on just 184MB of system memory - a record that even Windows XP would struggle to match.
NTDev shared the achievement on X, calling it "absolutely insane, and possibly a record." It was made possible by Tiny11, the developer's heavily modified version of Windows 11 designed to cut storage requirements. Tiny11 strips out unnecessary apps such as Camera, OneDrive and other bloat, producing installs optimized for low-end hardware.
Tiny11's main goal is to save storage space, and it does so impressively - shrinking a Windows 11 install from more than 20GB to just 8GB. By removing unneeded apps and processes, Tiny11 also significantly reduces RAM usage, allowing it to run on extremely low memory configurations.
It's amazing what you can do even with such a "closed" system as Windows.
Somehow I managed to make Windows 11 (through tiny11 and all that stuff, of course) run on just 184MB of RAM, which even though it's in Safe Mode I still think it's absolutely insane, and possibly a record. pic.twitter.com/IPK24LqjBJ- NTDEV (@NTDEV_) December 26, 2024
Recent Tiny11 builds reportedly allow Windows updates to be installed, but Microsoft does not officially support this. Removing certain components can also cause problems; for example, deleting the Edge browser can break widgets that depend on its code.
Whether Windows 11 is actually usable under such tight resource limits is another question. With only 184MB of RAM, running a modern operating system and apps is nearly impossible. An image shared by NTDev shows system memory maxed out at 183MB with just Notepad open.
Notably, the success relies on memory paging, which can help the operating system get past some physical RAM limits. Still, NTDev stresses that a lot more optimization is needed before the system can boot at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL6t_iuitxM
Such "OS torture" is nothing new for NTDev, who is known for pushing Windows to its limits through various mods and experiments. Earlier this year, they hit another extreme milestone: finding the minimum install size for Windows 11, bringing it down below 100MB. Unsurprisingly, the operating system was cut down to the point of being almost unusable.
In another record-setting test just a month later, NTDev managed to install a brand-new copy of Windows 10 in just 104 seconds, once again thanks to a highly optimized, customized build of the operating system.
Via Techspot
