Made by an independent developer, Tiny11 Builder allows you to easily and free create a lite and personalized version of Windows 11. An excellent tool for installing the new system on an old PC.
It’s no secret: over the course of its versions, Windows has the unfortunate tendency to become heavier, sometimes considerably. Microsoft is constantly adding new default applications to its operating system, which are not always very useful, or even frankly dispensable. And in this area, Windows 11 is particularly plump, with a large number of “native” programs which take up a lot of storage space as soon as the system is installed. Recently, with the entry into force of Digital Market Actit has finally become possible to remove most of the software integrated by default into Windows 11, but this involves manually uninstalling each application and repeating the operation with each new installation of the OS.
To solve this problem, an independent developer named NTDEV has developed a modified version of Windows 11, called Tiny11. Published shortly after the official release of the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, this lighter version of Windows 11 removes a large number of applications and software normally integrated by default into the OS, with the result being a significant gain in storage space and less use of the computer’s RAM. In addition, Tiny11 makes it possible to bypass the hardware prerequisites imposed by Microsoft for the use of Windows 11 and to install it on computers normally considered “incompatible” with the system. Very good qualities which have allowed the Tiny11 project to achieve a certain level of success among users keen to optimize their PC.
After about a year without news, the author of the project has just published an interesting new tool, called Tny11 Builder, which presents itself as a PowerShell script allowing you to easily create lightweight images of any version of Windows 11. Until Now, the developer had to create a version of Tiny11 himself for each existing version of Windows 11 (Family, Pro, IoT, etc.) before making it available for download. With Tiny11 Builder, it is now possible to create a lightweight image of any version of Windows 11 yourself, from the official ISO image of the system. The procedure is largely automated and its implementation relatively simple, as long as you follow a few steps precisely.
Tiny11 Builder: how to create a lite version of Windows 11
If you want to experiment and create a lite version of Windows 11, first note the following points:
- Tiny11 Builder is not a Windows crack, so you will need to have an operating system license to complete the installation. If you bought a complete PC off the shelf, this license is certainly included with and linked to the computer’s motherboard. Otherwise, many online shopping sites regularly offer activation keys for Windows 11 at attractive prices, just check which version of Windows the key purchased corresponds to (Home, Pro, IoT, etc.).
- Tiny11 Builder removes Edge from the Windows 11 installation, so you’ll be left without a web browser on first startup, which can be confusing. To download and install a browser, you will need to use a command line tool called WinGet, by launching the “Command Prompt” program as administrator from the start menu and using one of the following commands:
To install Edge
winget install edgeTo install Firefox
winget install -e --id Mozilla.Firefox
To install Chrome
winget install -e --id Google.Chrome
Once you have this information in mind, here is the procedure to follow to create a lite version of Windows with Tiny11 Builder.
► Download the Windows 11 ISO image in French from the following page: https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11. The page offers three different methods to recover Windows 11. Scroll down until you find the option “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices”, then click on the drop-down list Select Download and select the option Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO for x64 devicesthen click the blue button Download Now. A new section called “Select the product language” appears, click on the drop-down list Choose one and select English then finally click on the blue button Confirm. A new page appears, then click on the blue button 64-bit Download and choose a destination directory to start downloading the Windows 11 ISO image.
► Download Tiny11 Builder from the project’s GitHub page: https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder?tab=readme-ov-file. On the project’s GitHub page, click the green button <> Code then on Download ZIP. Then open the directory in which you saved the file and unzip the ZIP archive to the desired location, but do not launch the Tiny11 Builder script right away.
► Allow execution of PowerShell scripts from external sources: open the menu To start uptype “powershell” in the search bar then, on the result Windows PowerShell click on Execute as administrator.
► In the PowerShell window, type the following command: Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted and validate by pressing Entrancethen type the letter O and validate again by pressing Entrance.
► Mount the volume of the Windows 11 ISO image: in File Explorer, open the directory in which you saved the Windows 11 ISO image, double-click it and validate the confirmation message that appears. This will “mount” this disk image as a device on your computer and you will see it appear as a DVD drive in the File Explorer tree. Note the letter in parentheses in the drive name (in the screenshot below, it’s the letter D).
► Launch Tiny11 Builder: in File Explorer, open the directory in which you unzipped the Tiny11 Builder ZIP archive, right-click on the file tiny11maker.ps1 then click Run with PowerShell. Two successive warning messages will be displayed in PowerShell, validate them by typing the letter O each time then pressing Entrance.
► Select the Windows 11 image: once the Tiny11 Builder script is launched in PowerShell, indicate the drive letter containing the official Windows 11 image that you noted previously (in our example, it is the letter D ) and validate by pressing Entrance.
► Select the version of Windows 11 to lighten: a list of the different versions of Windows 11 available will appear in the PowerShell window. Each is identified by an index on the first line. To select the version of Windows 11 that you want to lighten, type its index number and validate by pressing Entrance. For example, the Windows 11 Home version (the most common on consumer computers) is number 1.
► Wait for the process to complete: the Tiny11 Builder script will then create a lightweight image of the version of Windows 11 that you have selected. The process may take a few minutes, during which you will see a bunch of lines of different colors scrolling through the PowerShell window. Wait until the process completes, which will be indicated by the message “Done. Creation completed! Press any key to exit the script…” and then press any key to close the PowerShell window.
► Create a Bootable USB key of the lightweight Windows 11 image: return to the directory from which you launched the Tiny11 Builder script, you will find a new file there named “tiny11.iso”. This is the installation file for the lite version of Windows 11 that you have just created. To use it and install it on a computer of your choice, you must copy it onto a Bootable USB key, using for example the free tool Rufus, the operation of which we show you in this download sheet.
You can run the Tiny11 Builder script as many times as needed, for example to create different lightweight images of different versions of Windows 11 as needed. Just remember to rename the file “tiny11.iso” and move it to another location after its creation, because Tiny11 Builder will replace this file each time you launch the script. Once the Bootable USB key is created, you can keep it on hand to install this personalized version of Windows 11 whenever you need it. Note that as this is an unofficial OS modification, future Windows updates may not install correctly on this modified version. Check the Tiny11 Builder GitHub page regularly to stay informed of known issues and developments in the project.