Developer sets Windows 11 record by running it on just 184MB of RAM
In a nutshell: Developer NTDev is well-known for testing the limits of Microsoft’s operating systems, and their latest achievement is no exception. They successfully managed to run Windows 11 on an astonishingly small 184MB of system memory – a feat so extreme that even Windows XP would have struggled under such constraints.
NTDev shared their achievement on X, describing it as “absolutely insane, and possibly a record.” This feat was made possible by Tiny11, the developer’s custom-modified version of Windows 11 designed to minimize storage requirements. Tiny11 removes pre-installed bloatware such as the Camera app, OneDrive, and other unnecessary components, creating streamlined installations ideal for underpowered hardware.
The primary goal of Tiny11 is to conserve storage space, which it accomplishes impressively – reducing the typical Windows 11 installation size from over 20GB to just 8GB. By stripping away nonessential apps and processes, Tiny11 also significantly lowers RAM usage, enabling it to run on remarkably 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, though such functionality is, unsurprisingly, not officially supported by Microsoft. Removing certain components can also cause issues; for instance, eliminating the Edge browser may break widgets that depend on its scripts.
The usability of Windows 11 under such extreme resource constraints is another question entirely. With only 184MB of RAM, running a modern OS and apps is nearly impossible. A screenshot shared by NTDev shows system memory maxed out at 183MB with just Notepad open.
It’s worth noting that this feat relied on memory paging, likely helping the OS overcome some physical RAM limitations. However, NTDev emphasized that extensive optimization was still necessary to make the system bootable.
Such “operating system torture” is nothing new for NTDev, who is well-known for pushing Windows to its absolute limits with various mods and experiments. Earlier this year, they achieved another extreme milestone: discovering the absolute minimum install size for Windows 11, shrinking it to under 100MB. Unsurprisingly, the resulting OS was so stripped down that it was barely functional.
In another record-setting experiment just a month later, NTDev managed to install a fresh copy of Windows 10 in a mere 104 seconds, once again using a custom, highly optimized version of the operating system.
