Windows 11 24H2 can run – sort of – in 184MB

Do you really need a new PC for Microsoft's latest and greatest?

From the department of "because I can" comes news of Windows 11 24H2 running in 184MB of memory.

YouTuber NTDEV, the same individual that produced the stripped-down Tiny11 edition of Windows 11, and later updated the code for Windows 11 23H2, has now performed a similar stunt with Windows 11 24H2.

Youtube Video

The timing of NTDEV's video is amusing since Microsoft and its hardware chums are currently trying to persuade customers attending mega tech event CES that buying new PCs are 2025's big thing.

Getting Windows 11 24H2 to run in such a small space is more of an intellectual exercise than anything else. NTDEV was able to coax the desktop into life and run apps such as Task Manager, Notepad and Paint, but admitted, "Obviously, it's terribly slow and basically air-gapped at this point, but as you can see, we can still multitask!"

The operating system is also running in Safe Mode, meaning there is very little that can be done with the platform other than fire up Task Manager and marvel at just how low the requirements for Windows 11 could go.

We tried out Tiny11 in 2023 and concluded that while it was a technical tour-de-force, the slimmed-down version of Windows 11 wasn't really suitable for use as a daily driver. A user obviously still needs a Windows 11 license, and the configuration was most definitely not supported by Microsoft.

NTDEV has had to wield the scalpel further to get the footprint even smaller. The prodder of Windows noted, "This was done through the power of tiny11 core, as well as some further extensive optimization."

There is no end of operating systems that will run in the same amount of memory or less, but considering that Microsoft's requirements call for 4GB to get its own operating system running, the fact that it can be coaxed to life in far less memory demonstrates just how bloated Windows' extremities have got over the years.

As Microsoft parades its latest take on AI assistants around the Las Vegas conference halls housing CES, the work by NTDEV harks back to a simpler time when the bloat was opt in rather than opt out. Although running in 184MB is extreme, The Reg cannot help but wonder why Windows 11 24H2 has the requirements it does, given that the core of the operating system clearly doesn't need them.

New AI PC anyone? Anyone? Anyone? ®