Windows 10 (x86/32bit) can run on a minimum of Dual Core CPU like a Core2Duo with 2GB of RAM but the x64/64bit version requires 4GB of RAM and an i-Series or Multi-Core Xenon CPU, but Windows 11 is a x64/64bit system only and will not run on older systems. In fact many “newer and low cost x64/64bit” systems will not run on Win11. Both have a lot of unnecessary bloat. Really, do you really need Xbox Center on your PC? No you don’t! Do Not THINK That You Do!!!
 
Other built-in apps in Win 10 and Win 11 are unnecessary and the system can run faster if they were not in the way. The question lays in will either system run on an older PC System with 1GB of RAM or less? This leads to can Win11 run on a “cheap modern x64/64bit” system when it otherwise won’t?
 
For the past few months I keep seeing videos on “Use this command to de-bloat Windows!” and “Download this script I wrote to de-bloat Windows!” The problem with these “Solutions” is that a full version of Windows has to be on the system before one can use these options to remove the bloat. Installing a full version of Windows is not an option for many.
 
Just recently I have been hearing about “Tiny Windows”, a version of Windows 10 and 11 where a lot of the bloated applications have been removed, and it installs a basic version of Windows. The .iso installations files are less than 4GB in size, and install a Windows system of 2GB to 6GB in size on the hard drive. The best thing, they are capable of running on 2GB of RAM or less and on an x86/32bit system like a CoreDuo and the P4. There are rumors floating about a Win10 and Win11 system running on a PIII with 256MB of RAM.
 
I decided to look for these two “Tiny” systems, running into a sea of dead links and false or deal Google searches. It is obvious to me that Microsoft does not want anyone to have access to these files and having Windows running on “old”, “poor” and “cheap” machines. But I managed to find some of these files for both x86 (32bit) and x64 (64bit) systems.
 
According to the instructions I found among the dead links is to use a Windows machine and the program Rufus to burn the ISO file to a USB Drive. I also found that even though the files are less than 8GB in size, it is recommended that one uses a 16GB or larger USB Drive. (Note: one of the files for the x86/32bit version is slightly larger than 2GB! It would easily fit into a 4GB thumb drive!) And I have found that using ‘SDFormatter’ to partition and format the USB Drive and ‘Win32DiskImager’ to burn the file to the drive provides a better outcome for creating a bootable thumb drive over using Rufus.
 
First and current attempt to do this was semi successful. Installing Tiny Win10 x86 on a Dell 1525 laptop with a Pentium D (Pentium Dual Core CPU, which is also an x64 CPU) at 1.6GHz, 2GB of RAM and a 128GB SATA SSD was successful. Getting there was the issue. Here’s why.
 
1) Though Win32DiskImager works on older systems, it does not run on Win10 at all.
 
2) Rufus burned the initial thumb drive under UEFI standards; UEFI is for newer i-Series systems. UEFI does not work under older x64 systems like Core2Dou/Core2Quad, Pentium D, and Multi-Core Atom CPUs. Thus when the first booting the thumb drive formatted under UEFI on the older system, a warning window opens saying that booting under this format is not possible, to try formatting under MBR.
 
3) Formatting the thumb drive under MBR through Rufus and reburning Tiny Win10 on it worked very well and I was able to install Windows 10 on the older the Dell 1525 laptop.
 
As for Windows 10 running on an older laptop as Tiny Win 10, I found the following. The system takes up about 12GB. But it takes very minimal resources, as it was running as fast as one would expect. It is similar to the same speed as Windows 10 on a tablet I have that was gifted to me by a friend years ago (Thank you Hondo! It is still running, believe it or not!)
 
This laptop in particular, the Dell 1525, comes in various flavors and CPU differences, from Single Core units to Dual Core CPUs under the CoreDuo Series, with many being upgraded to Core2Dous.There were a few Pentium Ds and Atom Dual Cores, which this laptop I have is a Pentium D. The Pentium D is a bit of an oddball, which I thought would be 32Bit but I found out it is 64Bit. It has two actual Pentium 4 CPUs modified to be on a single die but they are separated by a tiny gap and wiring in between them. It is the first of Intel’s Multi-core CPUs until the CoreDuo where they merged the two CPUs into one Silicone Block and all other CPU Designs after that followed. The Dell 1525 series was made around 2005 to 2010, with Vista being its starting OS. Mine seems to have been made in 2008 according it its BIOS Date.
 
As for its performance under Tiny Win10, I am rather impressed, though I have to say that this was a pretty blank system, and it will improve once the proper drivers are loaded into the system, instead of the generic drivers that it is running now. It may even free up more resources. But that is all I can say about it. This is a very stripped down version of Windows – there is no applications or software outside of the basic system apps. Even Internet Explorer has been removed from the system. Further testing is in order as proper drivers are found and installed, and applications added. But as is it seems to run well to be useful on such an old system. I am not expecting to be playing fast 3D rendering FPS games on it, but to do basic student and office/business work, this is more than enough.
 
Next test is since the Pentium D is a 64Bit/x64 is to install the 64bit version of the of Tiny Win10 on it.

Great info! Thanks! Keep us informed on this. Interested on how well it works.  
 
~Hondo