Run Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

Windows 10 is going end of life in mid October, less than six months from now. It’s not supported on PCs with less than an 8th-generation Core i series processor, which leaves a huge number of systems that run Windows 10 more or less fine out in the cold. But there is a way around that. I’ve been running Windows 11 on unsupported hardware for a few months. And believe it or not, I almost like it better than Windows 10.

There’s no guarantee this will work forever. Microsoft may release future updates that require features present in newer CPUs. But this buys us some time beyond October 2025, at the very least.

Using Tiny11builder to run Windows 11 on unsupported hardware

I’ve been using an open source Powershell script called Tiny11builder to bypass the CPU requirements, remove the bloat, remove the spyware, and bypass the requirements for a Microsoft logon. The result runs fine on systems with 3rd and 4th-generation i5 and i7 processors like a Dell Optiplex 3010 or 3020. After uninstalling Microsoft Teams (the one piece of bloat Tiny11 can’t remove on its own) and installing Firefox and Open Shell, I used 15 GB on a 240 GB SSD. While 15 gigs is still a lot, the last two security updates to Mac OS that I had to download and install on my work computer are that big. So when I look at it that way, a whole operating system being the size of a security update, maybe that’s not so bad.

Of course, you can use this to run it on more recent, supported hardware too.

Using Tiny11builder

Here’s how I installed Tiny11. If you’ve never done anything in Powershell before you may want to get some help from a tech savvy friend. I didn’t find it bad at all, but I’ve been messing around in command lines nearly 40 years.

1. Download the Windows 11 multi-edition ISO for x64 devices
2. Download Tiny11builder
   On the right, under the heading releases, click the link marked “Latest.” Then download the zip file.
3. Extract the zip file.
4. Double-click the Windows 11 ISO and note the drive letter it mounts to.
5. Run Tiny11maker.ps1 from an administrative powershell prompt. Otherwise it will throw errors.
   Open the directory you extracted it to in Explorer. Copy the full file path.
   Click Start, type Powershell, and when Powershell comes up, select Run as Administrator.
   type the letters cd (as in change directory) followed by a space, then right click. The path you copied will show up. then type tiny11maker.ps1 and press enter.
   It may prompt you for an execution policy change. This is to allow unsigned powershell scripts to run. You’ll need to do this to run the tool, so enter Y.
   When it asks for the drive letter, type just the letter, without a colon, and press enter
6. Choose the edition you want
   My ISO image had 11 choices. You’ll probably want either Windows 11 Home or Windows 11 Pro. Check the license sticker on your PC. If it’s licensed for a home edition of windows, choose Home (probably option 1). If it’s licensed for Pro, choose Pro (option 6 in my case).
   Don’t be alarmed if it throws an error or two, but if if throws a lot of errors, you probably didn’t run it as administrator.
7. After it finishes, it will create a file in the same folder as the script called tiny11.iso
8. Write the image to a USB flash drive using your favorite media creation tool, such as Rufus
   Rufus will offer to customize the Windows experience. No need with tiny11, tiny11 already has those customizations built in
9. Copy installers for other things you may want onto the USB stick. You’ll need a web browser. Also consider Open Shell to make Windows 11’s start menu look and act more like an earlier version of Windows. You can make the start menu look like Windows 7, or even earlier versions if you wish.
   Here’s a tip: Right-click on the taskbar and select Taskbar settings > Taskbar behaviors and set the taskbar alignment to the left.
10. Install Windows from the USB stick as you would normally
11. Install the other software from the USB stick

Final steps

Once you get Windows up and running, the only piece of bloatware left is Microsoft Teams. If you press Start, type microsoft teams, then right-click on Teams, you can select uninstall to uninstall it. It takes a while because Teams is ginormous, but at least you only have to do this once.

While this slimmed-down Windows 11 with Open Shell still has a few annoyances, it’s a lot better than default Windows 11.

When you press the start button, surprisingly little software is present. But Calculator, Paint, Notepad, and Media Player Classic are there, which are the four built-in Windows apps I personally use. If you do want or need any of the other included apps, you can launch the Microsoft Store to install components you want. Or you can explore third party alternatives and compute the way we did before the software industry was dominated by just one or two megacorporations.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.