How to Install Windows 11 Without All the Extra Junk
Microsoft keeps adding more and more things to Windows, and it often seems like it’s more of a hindrance than a help. A “clean” install of Windows at this point forces you to sign up for a Microsoft account, tries to sell you cloud storage space, and is very persistent in trying to get you to use Microsoft Edge and Copilot. I could go on.
Tiny11Builder is a third-party script that can take the Windows installation ISO you can get from Microsoft and strip it of all those features. Install Windows with this tool and you’ll get a truly clean installation: no news, no OfficeHub, no annoying GetStarted prompts, and no unnecessary Start menu entries. You can always install these things later if you want, but you’ll start from a clean state.
First, download the official Windows 11 ISO image.
Go to the official Microsoft page for downloading Windows . Scroll down until you see Download Windows 11 disk image (ISO) for x64 devices . Select the version of Windows for which you have a product key.
Click the “Download Now” button. This will probably take about 15 minutes, depending on your internet speed.
Download the script and prepare your device
Now it’s time to download our scripts. Go to Tiny11Builder’s Github page and click the “Code” button in the top right corner. Next, click “Download ZIP” .
Unzip this download. Now we need to configure your system so that PowerScript can make administrative changes. Open PowerShell as an administrator, which you can do by searching for “PowerShell” in the Start menu and then clicking Run as administrator in the right sidebar.
Type or copy the exact Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted command and press Enter.
You will be warned of the security implications of this – confirm that you know what you are doing and authorize the change. You can always undo the change later by running Set-ExecutionPolicy restricted .
Make your drive tiny11
At this point, the Windows 11 ISO download should be complete. Right-click the file and select Connect . This will open the ISO file as a virtual CD, which you can confirm by searching for it in Windows Explorer.
Once you’re sure the drive is mounted, you can run the tiny11script that was in the zip file you unzipped earlier. The easiest way to get started is to right-click the “tiny11maker.ps1” file and select “Run with PowerShell” .
This will run the script. You’ll be prompted to enter your virtual drive letter, which you can find in Windows Explorer under My Computer – look for the DVD drive that wasn’t there before. All you need to do is enter the letter and press Enter.
The script will then ask you which version of Windows you want to make the disk for. In your response, indicate the version for which you have the product key.
After this, the script will do its job, which may take some time. When the process is completed, you will see a message letting you know.
There will be a new ISO file in the script directory. This ISO is ideal for installing Windows in a virtual machine, which is how I host it, but it is also suitable for installing on a device. You can burn this ISO file to a DVD if you have an optical drive, or use a USB drive. Microsoft offers official instructions for this , which are quite easy to follow.
However you install Windows from this ISO, know that it will be completely clean. You won’t be prompted to create a Microsoft account or even sign in using one, and there won’t be any Microsoft services other than those you need to use the operating system. Seriously, look at this start menu:
There’s no clutter here, meaning you can add the apps you actually want to use. It would be great if Microsoft offered this officially, but it’s nice that power users have the option to get it.