Install a Leaner Windows 11 With Rufus - No OneDrive, Copilot or Ads

One Windows 11 26H2 PC is idling at just 2.5GB of RAM, and the internet is crediting Rufus.

The short version: Rufus really can install a leaner Windows 11, thanks to a newer option called Quality of Life.

But Rufus alone is probably not the whole story behind that 2.5GB number. Here is what happened, what the option actually removes, and how to try it yourself.

What Actually Happened

On 6 October, a Japanese PC enthusiast posted a Task Manager screenshot of Windows 11 26H2 using 2.5GB of memory at idle, with another 2.1GB cached. The PC is a Ryzen 5 3500 with 16GB of RAM.

By their own account, they used Rufus to strip out preinstalled extras, installed "a different version" of Windows, and then updated to 26H2.

That middle step is the bit headlines skip. Some outlets suspect a trimmed-down unofficial Windows image, but the user never said which one.

What Rufus's Quality of Life Option Removes

Rufus 4.14 added Quality of Life in April, and 4.15 polished it in June. It sits in the Windows User Experience box that pops up when you create a Windows 11 USB, and it switches off a list of things many people remove by hand later.

• Removed and disabled - OneDrive, the new Outlook and Teams.
• Switched off - Copilot, Fast Startup, Phone Link features, Start menu ads and news.
• Tidied up - Edge's first-run setup is skipped, and the taskbar search box shrinks to an icon.

It does not cut files out of Windows. Rufus applies Microsoft-documented settings during setup, and its developer says every change is reversible. The Rufus FAQ even shows how to bring OneDrive back.

So Will You Get 2.5GB Too?

Probably not from Rufus alone. Removing OneDrive, Teams and Outlook stops a few background apps from loading, which helps, but a normal Windows 11 install will usually still idle well above 2.5GB.

Two more things to keep in mind:

• Idle is not real life - open a browser with a few tabs and memory use climbs fast on any PC.
• Cached memory is not wasted - Windows keeps recently used data ready and hands it back the moment an app needs it, so a high number is not automatically a problem.

Microsoft is also trimming Windows' memory use on its own side. Here is Microsoft's own RAM diet and what it means for 8GB PCs.

How to Try the Rufus Quality of Life Option

1. Get Rufus 4.14 or newer - download Rufus. It is free and does not need installing.
2. Get the Windows 11 26H2 ISO - Microsoft's official file. Our Windows 11 26H2 ISO guide walks through it.
3. Make the USB - plug in a USB stick of 8GB or more, pick the ISO in Rufus and click START.
4. Tick Quality of Life - in the Windows User Experience box, tick the Quality of Life option, plus the local account option if you want to skip the Microsoft account sign-in. Check every box before clicking OK.
5. Install - boot the PC from the USB and install Windows as normal.

The same box also has the checkbox that skips the TPM and Secure Boot checks. If your PC needs that, follow our Rufus guide for unsupported PCs.

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