Tiny11

Yes, Chrome is the default and it works for regular links. Just not those in the applets and other settings windows and such. I do suspect that Edge is the issue but thought maybe there are other associations I could make and get them working in Chrome.

As of now, that is the only issue I see. I might put edge back for that stuff even though I don't use it. I installed Tiny because it is an old machine, MS says I can't upgrade and I suspect not having the Trust module would be a final deal breaker for trying to install.

NTDEV explains how Tiny11 is now working with GpuRamDrive which uses VRAM instead of RAM (!)

I remember when I installed a lite version of Windows 10 which lacked Microsoft Edge! How I was supposed to download drivers and other applications without any working browser! I loaded Internet Explorer 11 which could open no site but Google and a few more. Fortunately I found a direct link to Chrome which I used to install Google Chrome. From there I could add Edge and anything else. To be on the safe side I have an offline installer of both 32-bit and 64-bit Edge in my USB since then.

I put a folder on the tiny11 usb called my apps which included the off-line chrome installer.

But I didn't really need to as the networking was fine and I just joined my workgroup and could access all the downloads / installs I keep on a network drive.

spapakons said:

I remember when I installed a lite version of Windows 10 which lacked Microsoft Edge! How I was supposed to download drivers and other applications without any working browser! I loaded Internet Explorer 11 which could open no site but Google and a few more. Fortunately I found a direct link to Chrome which I used to install Google Chrome. From there I could add Edge and anything else. To be on the safe side I have an offline installer of both 32-bit and 64-bit Edge in my USB since then.

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There has to be a middle way between the quote in the above and the bloated OS that we have today that tries to be everything to everyone > now we have office machines that are loaded with Solitaire

To make sure I have no missing features, I prefer installing the standard Windows 11 version and then remove or disable stuff to make it faster.

You can now build Tiny 11 yourself from the latest official MSFT ISO (22621.525) or from version 22621.1265 downloaded from UUP dump, using Tiny 11 Builder available on GitHub. The project is open source, here is the link:

spapakons said:

To make sure I have no missing features, I prefer installing the standard Windows 11 version and then remove or disable stuff to make it faster.

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The machine is too old. About 13 yo dual core, no TPM . I wanted to try it out on a test machine. MS says 3 of my 5 machines can't be upgraded. My wife's Toshiba laptop might eventually make it as her problem is non-supported cpu although I don't know why. It is a std Intel (I7 I think) from a couple generations back. But my 10 yo HP laptop probably will also require a tiny build. I just built my desktop in late '21 and the 'server' desktop in late '22 so they can just upgrade.

Figured I give it a try to see if I can avoid buying a bunch of new stuff over the next 2 1/2 years.

Lex24 said:

You can now build Tiny 11 yourself from the latest official MSFT ISO (22621.525) or from version 22621.1265 downloaded from UUP dump, using Tiny 11 Builder available on GitHub. The project is open source, here is the link:

GitHub - ntdevlabs/tiny11builder: Scripts to build a trimmed-down Windows 11 image.

Scripts to build a trimmed-down Windows 11 image. Contribute to ntdevlabs/tiny11builder development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

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That is what I did.

spokey said:

The machine is too old. About 13 yo dual core, no TPM . I wanted to try it out on a test machine. MS says 3 of my 5 machines can't be upgraded. My wife's Toshiba laptop might eventually make it as her problem is non-supported cpu although I don't know why. It is a std Intel (I7 I think) from a couple generations back. But my 10 yo HP laptop probably will also require a tiny build. I just built my desktop in late '21 and the 'server' desktop in late '22 so they can just upgrade.

Figured I give it a try to see if I can avoid buying a bunch of new stuff over the next 2 1/2 years.


That is what I did.

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I believe anything pre 8th gen is technically unsupported but there are ways around it. Just dated is all its onto the 13th gen now.

If you bypass compatibility check you can even install Windows 11 on a Pentium 4 6xx series s775 (the first Intel 64-bit family), but it will be slow.

spapakons said:

If you bypass compatibility check you can even install Windows 11 on a Pentium 4 6xx series s775 (the first Intel 64-bit family), but it will be slow.

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Is there a way to bypass the check other than something like tiny11?

11 is running reasonable well on my test machine. I don't do a lot with it (being it's a playbox) but think I'd be alright with basic email, surfing etc. I've use libre writer & calc a little so far and they are OK.

The same methods to bypass compatibility check in standard Windows 11 should also work in Tiny 11. You can try creating the USB with Rufus, but there is a chance that the Tiny 11 ISO is not detected as Windows 11 and not offered the patches in Rufus. In that case you can manually modify the Registry keys to bypass compatibility check, see respective thread. Or you can use a script that modifies the Registry. You can also try the hybrid Windows 10/11 USB method. Just create a standard Windows 10 USB flash drive making sure it is able to boot in Legacy BIOS mode (MBR partition style). Then replace the file \sources\install.esd (or .wim) with the respective file from Tiny 11 ISO. For upgrading from previous version to Tiny 11, run Setup and before upgrading disconnect from the internet and replace the hidden file C:\$Windows.~BT\sources\appraiserres.dll with an empty dummy. To create the empty dummy right-click on the desktop and select to create a new text file. No need to add any text, just rename it to appraiserres.dll without the .txt extension at the end. To do that you must disable hiding extensions of known files and of course you must enable showing hidden files. After successfully replacing the file with the empty dummy, you must proceed with the upgrade. Just keep disconnected from the internet until it is finished.

I guess I am a little confused. Tiny11 bypasses compatibility. That is the reason I used it.

Tiny11 is windows 11 with stuff removed.

I used the current windows 11 ISO 22H2 along with the tiny11 script to create a new iso that bypasses compatibility. It also removes a number of things such as edge (which I put back to make search and news work). Once I had the stripped iso, I did use Rufus to create a bootable USB from the Tiny11 iso and then proceeded to install.

Although I have seen references to it not doing updates, it appears to be doing updates just fine. The attached image is what the tiny install looks like after 2 days.

spokey said:

Although I have seen references to it not doing updates, it appears to be doing updates just fine.

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Once you have bypassed the checks and installed Windows 11, whether it is 'Tiny' or the full thing, then it will get all the same updates as a supported device would. I have had 11 running on my System Two with its 1st gen i5 since W11 21H2 was first released and it has remained fully up to date. The only thing it didn't see offered in Windows Update was the Feature Update to 22H2, for that I had to bypass the checks again an upgrade it using an ISO.

My apologies, I thought you must bypass compatibility check to install Tiny 11. No, you don't. I should have read about it before posting, but doesn't matter. My instructions are valid for the standard version of Windows 11. For more information on installing Windows 11 on unsupported computers read the respective thread.