how to create a lightweight installation disk image

If you are used to installing Windows 11 with the official Microsoft ISO, it will not have escaped your notice that a certain number of applications that you do not need are installed by default on your PC. And unfortunately, Microsoft offers no other solution than to uninstall them, subsequently, from your PC if you want to get rid of them.

In addition to wasting time, the operation can be quite frustrating if you are the type to frequently reinstall a fresh version of Microsoft's operating system on your PC. However, there is a very practical little script which, when used, allows you to generate a version of Windows 11 stripped of its unnecessary applications. Tiny11, this is the name of this script (download here https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder/releases), is based directly on the installation disk image in Windows 11 ISO format that you will have downloaded in advance from the Microsoft website.

In total, a little more than twenty applications that are normally installed natively are removed from this lightweight installation image. You will get rid of, among other things, Clipchamp, Weather, Xbox, Maps, Connected Mobile, Internet Explorer, Edge, or even One Drive.

Once this lightweight Windows 11 installation image has been created, all you have to do is create a bootable installation USB key to reinstall Windows 11 properly on your PC. Here's how to do it.

1. Open PowerShell in Administrator mode

This script is executed in PowerShell. You will therefore first need to open PowerShell in administrator mode. To do this, right-click on the start menu and select Terminal (administrator).

Windows likely opens a Command Prompt window by default. To access PowerShell, click on the drop-down menu in the menu bar next to the + button, and choose PowerShell. You can also directly use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Maj + &.

2. Allow PowerShell scripts

Before you can run the script This script is run in PowerShell. To make it work, you first need to allow scripts to run in PowerShell.

To do this, enter the command Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted and validate by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard.

3. Mount Windows 11 disk image

Now open a File Explorer window and go to the directory where the Windows 11 installation disk image in ISO format is stored. Double-click the file, then in the pop-up that appears, select Open to mount the disk image like a DVD drive. Remember the letter corresponding to the Windows 11 disk image drive (D in our case).

4. Run the Tiny11 script

Now open the directory where you previously downloaded Tiny11 and unzip the archive. Then enter the Tiny11 folder, then the subfolder tiny11builder. Then right click on the file tiny11makerand chooseRun with PowerShell.

In the security warning pop-up that appears, click Open. Now a Tiny11 image creator window should open in PowerShell and say “ Please enter the drive letter for the Windows 11 image “. Then enter the drive letter corresponding to the mounted Windows 11 disk image (D, in our case), and press the Enter key on the keyboard to validate.

5. Choose your version of Windows 11

Now you need to select the version of Windows 11 Lite that you want to create. Tiny Image Creator basically displays the complete list of Windows 11 versions that you can use by numbering them (ImageIndex line).

At the very bottom of the window, at the line Please enter the image indexenter the ImageIndex number corresponding to the version of Windows you want to lighten, and press Enter to validate.

Then wait a few minutes while Tiny11 image creator generates the disk image in ISO format of your light version of Windows 11. The process ends when the message “ Done. Creation completed » is displayed.

Your lightweight Windows 11 disk image is automatically saved under the name tiny11.iso in the tiny11builder directory. Now all you have to do is create a bootable USB key using this disk image to install a lite version of Windows 11 on your PC.

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