Lessons I learned from a system with only 32GB storage

cereberus · Aug 21, 2022

glasskuter said:
I've tried to follow this thread. I've only been involved in a couple of these low grade machines. In Windows 10, when an upgrade came down the pike and a machine did not have enough storage, the process would tell me. I could insert a usb drive, point to it and the upgrade would use it to create the windows.old folder. Then the machine would upgrade. Is that no longer possible in WIndows 11 without jumping through all these hoops? Just askin'.

Pretty sure same is true but we have yet to have a build upgrade. Could try with a repair upgrade or manual upgrade from W10 to W11 I suppose.

Anyway, you can always use my clone to hyper-v vhdx upgrade method and reclone back to device method - done it many times.

Bree · Aug 21, 2022

cereberus said:
Pretty sure same is true but we have yet to have a build upgrade.....

We should find out soon, if the Insider Release Preview channel is any guide.
That used a full build upgrade to go from RP 21H2 to RP 22H2.

hsehestedt · Aug 21, 2022

andrewtjb said:
I didn't know compact OS was a option.

I have the ASUS e203 but mine is only 2gb of ram with 32gb emmc.

I bought it years ago as something I could carry on the bus to do some work instead of lugging around my xps 15.

From what I remember when there was a update windows would ask you plug in a usb stick for extra temporary storage.

Might have to dig it out at some point and see if windows 11 will install on it.

The 32GB will work fine, at least for a clean install, with lots of space left over. However the 2GB RAM might be an issue. Are you sure that the e203 you have really has only 2GB RAM? I thought that the minimum RAM on that system was 4GB, but I may be wrong.

TIP: If you performing a clean install and Windows complains about the amount of RAM, simply do this:

1) Start setup over again by booting from your thumb drive.

2) When you get to the first static screen (the first screen where setup pauses to ask for information), open a command prompt by pressing SHIFT + F10 and then enter this command:

reg add HKLM\System\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassRAMCheck /t reg_dword /d 0x00000001 /f

This will suppress the check for sufficient RAM.

3) Close the command prompt and continue setup as usual.

4) When Windows is done being installed, open an elevated command prompt and enter this command:

compact /compactsos:always

This should free up about an extra 2.5GB of storage space.

Bree · Aug 21, 2022

hsehestedt said:
the 2GB RAM might be an issue. Are you sure that the e203 you have really has only 2GB RAM? I thought that the minimum RAM on that system was 4GB, but I may be wrong.

Apparently it was available with a choice of 2GB or 4GB. If it came with 2GB then it cannot be upgraded to 4GB.

ASUS E203 - Tech Specs｜Laptops For Home｜ASUS Global

Detailed specification of ASUS E203 Tech Specsï¼Color:Pearl White|Star Grey|Petal PinkãColor:Star GreyãOperating System:Windows 10 Home in S Mode - ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro for business|Windows 10 Home - ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro for business|Windows 10 Pro - ASUS recommends Windows...

www.asus.com

Windows 11 will actually run in just 2GB, I have found. Just how well is dependent on the processor speed, of course.

Bree said:
works fine, albeit a little sluggish - no 64-bit OS should be asked to run in just 2GB of RAM

Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware - post #717

cereberus · Aug 21, 2022

Bree said:
Apparently it was available with a choice of 2GB or 4GB. If it came with 2GB then it cannot be upgraded to 4GB.

ASUS E203 - Tech Specs｜Laptops For Home｜ASUS Global

Detailed specification of ASUS E203 Tech Specsï¼Color:Pearl White|Star Grey|Petal PinkãColor:Star GreyãOperating System:Windows 10 Home in S Mode - ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro for business|Windows 10 Home - ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro for business|Windows 10 Pro - ASUS recommends Windows...

www.asus.com

Windows 11 will actually run in just 2GB, I have found. Just how well is dependent on the processor speed, of course.

Let's install Windows 11 on incompatible hardware - post #717

I have done tests with W10 in a hyper-v vm and it will run in 500 MB! I have not tested W11 yet but I would not be surprised to get a similar result.

edit: W11 running in 512 MB - obviously needs to pagefile a lot.

siliconbeaver · Aug 21, 2022

my laptop of Lenovo IdeaPad 120S, 2GB RAM. 32GN eMMC runs Windows 11 fine with all present updates.
I did clone than install on this laptop. it indeed could save much time and work.

I got a spear PC, NOT rich in hardware. just 4GB RAM and 250GB SSD. installed Windows 11 with all present updates. then did ghost image.
When any PC needs an OS of Windows 11, given the PC running Windows 10. Simply clone/restore the image of Windows 11 on the PC. when done, boot PC and Windows 11 will automatically update on this PC. then done, unless you would refine drivers manually.
At last, you may need to install some apps when OS clone/install done.

My recent Windows 11 installs on PC have been completed this way. Clone then boot. As said, it indeed saves much time and work.

yes, Lenovo IdeaPad 120S, 2GB RAM. 32GN eMMC was running slower on Windows 10. and no way to run Windows 10 updates.

MisterEd · Aug 21, 2022

Compact OS, single-instancing, and image optimization

Windows 10 includes tools to help you use less drive space.

docs.microsoft.com

hsehestedt · Aug 21, 2022

Running on a half GB of RAM, wow, that's crazy. Thanks for sharing the test results.

cineman195 · Aug 21, 2022

I ran the command to query the compact status.
Got a message that "The system is not in the compact state because Windows has determined that, it is not beneficial for this system"

cereberus · Aug 22, 2022

hsehestedt said:
Running on a half GB of RAM, wow, that's crazy. Thanks for sharing the test results.

Iiittt waaaaassss veeeerrrryyyyy sss sllllooooowwwwww LOL

hsehestedt · Aug 22, 2022

LOL, love it. It's still amazing that it was able to run at all.

hsehestedt · Aug 22, 2022

cineman195 said:
I ran the command to query the compact status.
Got a message that "The system is not in the compact state because Windows has determined that, it is not beneficial for this system"

I'm not sure what all the circumstances that it takes into account are, but I seem to also vaguely recall from a long time ago that it requires a solid state storage (SSD or eMMC). It's possible that it may not even be enabled on a spinning disk but I'm not 100% certain of this.

cineman195 · Aug 22, 2022

hsehestedt said:
I'm not sure what all the circumstances that it takes into account are, but I seem to also vaguely recall from a long time ago that it requires a solid state storage (SSD or eMMC). It's possible that it may not even be enabled on a spinning disk but I'm not 100% certain of this.

Ok, this is on a SSD and not a spinning disk. Possible that since the SSD is 240GB, Windows decided that it doesn't need to compact ?

hsehestedt · Aug 22, 2022

Ah, yes. That makes sense. It's intended only for systems with very small amounts of storage. You really don't want to use it otherwise because it will harm performance.

cereberus · Aug 22, 2022

hsehestedt said:
Ah, yes. That makes sense. It's intended only for systems with very small amounts of storage. You really don't want to use it otherwise because it will harm performance.

But surprising minimal performance lost.

hsehestedt · Aug 22, 2022

cereberus said:
But surprising minimal performance lost.

Good to know.Thanks!

Bree · Aug 22, 2022

cereberus said:
But surprising minimal performance lost.

I'm running RP 22621.382 as a native boot vhdx on this laptop I'm currently typing from. I've never bothered to check before, but I've just looked and it seems Windows has determined that it should be a Compact OS.

So that's (potentially) a double hit on performance, the native boot and having to expand the system files. Honestly can't say I'd noticed any impact.

jonnboy1976 · Aug 24, 2022

siliconbeaver said:
my laptop of Lenovo IdeaPad 120S, 2GB RAM. 32GN eMMC runs Windows 11 fine with all present updates.
I did clone than install on this laptop. it indeed could save much time and work.

I got a spear PC, NOT rich in hardware. just 4GB RAM and 250GB SSD. installed Windows 11 with all present updates. then did ghost image.
When any PC needs an OS of Windows 11, given the PC running Windows 10. Simply clone/restore the image of Windows 11 on the PC. when done, boot PC and Windows 11 will automatically update on this PC. then done, unless you would refine drivers manually.
At last, you may need to install some apps when OS clone/install done.

My recent Windows 11 installs on PC have been completed this way. Clone then boot. As said, it indeed saves much time and work.

yes, Lenovo IdeaPad 120S, 2GB RAM. 32GN eMMC was running slower on Windows 10. and no way to run Windows 10 updates.

I have a Lenovo IdeaPad N580. Can you tell me more details of this clone/restore process please?

Kim Parker · Aug 25, 2022

Hasleo has a neat program "WintoUSB". 3 versions - free, professional, and enterprise. The free version can create a "Windows to go" on a USB SSD drive. it can even clone a current install to another usb or thunderbolt drive. The free version can also clone a current running Windows to a USB Drive. The Pro version can do the same thing and also to a Thunderbolt drive.

The Hasleo "Windows to go" can be used on other computers. I believe it uses the drivers from the computer it is plugged in to. I tried making a W2G on an SSD and it is just as fast as any of my other installs on hard drives.

This program doesn't require only certain approved drives, it can be installed to any kind. This might be a solution for laptops that don't have enough storage. That is, just bypass then boot up with the W2G.

Kim Parker · Aug 26, 2022

Kim Parker said:
Hasleo has a neat program "WintoUSB". 3 versions - free, professional, and enterprise. The free version can create a "Windows to go" on a USB SSD drive. it can even clone a current install to another usb or thunderbolt drive. The free version can also clone a current running Windows to a USB Drive. The Pro version can do the same thing and also to a Thunderbolt drive.

The Hasleo "Windows to go" can be used on other computers. I believe it uses the drivers from the computer it is plugged in to. I tried making a W2G on an SSD and it is just as fast as any of my other installs on hard drives.

This program doesn't require only certain approved drives, it can be installed to any kind. This might be a solution for laptops that don't have enough storage. That is, just bypass then boot up with the W2G.

To clarify - the program can install to any kind of usb drive, not just those approved on the Microsoft List when they had Windows to Go.