Enthusiast manages to run Windows 11 on a single-core Intel Pentium 4 chip from 15 years...

[Ben Myers]

Would I be pushing my luck to try to install Windows 11 on a 200MHz Pentium Pro with 1GB of very special memory, a PCI graphics card and an Intel 10/100 Ethernet PCI card? The 4x256MB memory came from an SGI workstation long ago, and I kept the memory because it was so cool. The rig (actually a naked board on my workbench) runs a Windows 10 PE environment ffrom a USB stick S--L--O--W--L--Y. Should I take the challenge?

 

[captaincranky]

Would I be pushing my luck to try to install Windows 11 on a 200MHz Pentium Pro with 1GB of very special memory, a PCI graphics card and an Intel 10/100 Ethernet PCI card?

If you're hell bent on this sort of, a "quest paradigm", wouldn't it be more productive to go, "climb a mountain because it's there", instead of d**king around with that junk?

Or possibly binge watch all 19 seasons of, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit".

OTOH, if you're really that into self-flagellation, the five extant seasons of "Schitt's Creek", should be enough to do the trick

Besides, even if you did get it to run, you know the whole mess would grind to a halt, as soon as M$ tried to update it.

 

[Ben Myers]

If you're hell bent on this sort of, a "quest paradigm", wouldn't it be more productive to go, "climb a mountain because it's there", instead of d**king around with that junk?

Or possibly binge watch all 19 seasons of, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit".

OTOH, if you're really that into self-flagellation, the five extant seasons of "Schitt's Creek", should be enough to do the trick

Besides, even if you did get it to run, you know the whole mess would grind to a halt, as soon as M$ tried to update it.

Thank you for your wonderful encouragement!

 

[captaincranky]

Thank you for your wonderful encouragement!

I prefer to think of my post as a "reality check", as opposed to "encouragement", which it is definitely not.

And FWIW, that P-4 along with its associated chipsets, will handle up to 4 GB of RAM, in its 32 bit form.

Windows 10's minimum RAM requirement is 1 GB for 32 bits, & 2 GB for 64 bit.,

So, with the 1 GB of, "very special RAM" you have. I expect the system would boot, but more than likely, do nothing else. All Windows editions since Win 7, cache available RAM. You would likely have to defeat that.

P-4s weren't 64 bit, until the last "Cedar Mill" versions. (IIRC) The "Prescott" P-4s were only 32 bit

Windows 11 wants 4 GB of RAM min.,& a 64 bit CPU.

But, as I implied before, is it worth your time?