One of the reasons why the launch of Windows 11 and its different versions was not received with equal enthusiasm by all users is its high level of installation requirements. Higher requirements than for Windows 10, of course. But Microsoft has thought about it and offers us a solution. In this post we dedicate it to Windows 11 Tiny: This is everything you need to know about the tool designed for old or low-end PCs.
Broadly speaking, Windows 11 Tiny can be defined as a solution to install Windows 11 Pro 22H2 on computers that are more than 6 years old. Those computers that do not meet the installation requirements imposed by the official version of Windows 11.
It should also be noted that, at the time, Windows also launched Tiny 10 to solve the same problem that arose in 2015 with the official launch of Windows 10. Thus, The idea is not new, it would be more of an update.
What is Windows 11 Tiny?
Windows 11 Tiny is a "mini" version of Windows 11 (in English, the word tiny means "tiny"). In it we find the entire basic skeleton of the operating system, naked, that is, devoid of numerous features and processes. In this way, it is achieved a much lighter version, ideal to be run without problems on any computer.
Using a lighter version means a lower resource consumption of our PC. It also means having a more storage space on our team. Two important advantages and, in the case of simpler or older computers, determining characteristics. You could even say essential.
Yes, the basic functions are the same, including, for example, updates to security patches and application and peripheral drivers, as well as access to the Windows App Store.
Windows 11 Tiny installation requirements
As we indicated at the beginning, the installation requirements of Windows 11 Tiny are much less demanding than those of the conventional version of Windows 11. In fact, that is its reason for being. They are the following:
- RAM: 2 GB
- Storage: 8 GB
In reality, the operating system itself only occupies 6,34 GB. The rest up to 8 GB is used by some rudimentary applications such as Paint, Notepad or Calculator. As for RAM, this "mini" operating system could work with a figure as ridiculous as 200 MB, although the execution speed would be tremendously slow.
How to install Windows 11 Tiny
If you find yourself in any of the aforementioned situations (old or less powerful PC) and need to get on the Windows 11 bandwagon, the Tiny solution can be very interesting. These are the steps to follow if we already have Windows 10 installed on our computer (recommended method):
- First of all, you have to go to the Tiny 11 official website in Internet Archive.
- There we must sign up (it's free) to access the download buttons from the ISO file. It is important to select the latest version available.
- After downloading, we do double click on the ISO file to install it.
In case this method produces an error or if you want to install it on an older version of the Microsoft operating system, it will be necessary to proceed with a installation from an external drive. For that, we are going to need a specific program (one that is highly recommended is Rufus) and a USB pendrive from which the installation will be carried out. In this case, the steps to follow are the following:
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- We download the setup program from an external drive and run it by connecting a USB flash drive to our PC, creating a bootable USB drive.
- Then we restart the PC and we access the BIOS, changing the boot order to allow Windows to run from the USB drive.
- We begin the configuration process by choosing language, time format and keyboard method.
- We then accept the Microsoft Software License Terms.
- We select the folder where we want to install Windows 11 Tiny Edition and start the process through the installation wizard.
Limitations of Windows 11 Tiny
Using Windows 11 Tiny is very convenient in some cases, but it is important to know its imitations. Due to its reduced nature, there are many features that we may need and that are not included in this version reduced version of Windows 11. Furthermore, since it is not an operating system in the strict sense, does not offer automatic updates, although we will always have the option of executing them manually.
On the other hand, since we are talking about an alternative version, the most prudent thing is to carry out a Backup of all our data to prevent it from being lost or to use it in case we have to perform a quick system recovery.
Conclusion
Tiny is an edition lite of Windows 11 that requires much less disk space and RAM than the official version. Really useful to use on an inattentive or outdated PC, although with great limitations of use.