Key Takeaways
- Windows 7 can boot on
- The optimized version lacks functionalities, and runs slowly, though it can run classic games.
- Not practical for real-world use, but a fun project to attempt on a VM.
As miserable as the experience can be, it’s possible to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. While Windows 11 now shows a watermark warning if your PC doesn’t meet the hardware requirement, you get a full-fledged operating system with minimum loss of features. But if you’re looking for something more fun, a famed Windows tinkerer has managed to boot Windows 7 on less disk space than you’d ever imagine.
An enthusiast proves Windows 7 can boot on unimaginably small disk space
Image credit: Microsoft
For a standard Windows 7 (32-bit) installation, your PC needs a minimum of 16GB of disk space, while the 64-bit version of the OS requires at least 20 GB. Famous Windows tinkerer @XenoPanther defied those limitations and managed to shrink the Windows 7 installation to under 100MB and still boot it. The way they did it is what makes it more fun.
The tinkerer didn’t use any third-party software to shrink the size of Windows 7. Instead, the installation was completed in a typical way, followed by an optimization process using some batch scripts to shrink the Windows Installation to under 100MB. The goal of the optimization process is to remove all the unnecessary files and components and keep those that are just sufficient to boot the OS. Of course, this optimized version of Windows 7 won’t be nearly as functional as you’d like on your main PC.
What are the limitations, and should you do it?
Since you’re stripping Windows 7 of many of its functionalities, you shouldn’t expect it to run smoothly. As @XenoPanther said, the optimized version of the OS is super slow. Although the visual performance is disappointing, the experiment shows that it is possible to run some classic games like 3D Pinball and Minesweeper. It’s not practical for real-world use, but if you want to get your hands dirty with a fun project, you should follow along with the steps in the above video. That said, make sure that you’re using a VM for this experiment.
Related
How to upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or 8.1
With Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 ending completely, now is the time to upgrade to Windows 10. Here’s what you need to do.
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source: https://www.xda-developers.com/bold-experiment-shows-windows-7-boots-on-an-unimaginably-small-disk-space/
