Windows 7 Starter install

[Crbarber22695]

So this may sound a little crazy, but does anyone know how to bypass the Windows 7 Startup Memory Check? (without buying new ram or getting a new pc). I want to install Windows 7 Starter onto my laptop that only has 256MB of RAM, but I can't due to the memory check. Please help if you know anyway how.

(AND DON'T SAY BUY NEW RAM! Believe me, I would, and really want to, but my computer only has one DDR slot for RAM, and it has the 256MB in it. If I could find a 1GB or 512MB RAM chip that is PC133 I would buy it, but I can't find it anywhere, especially in this day and age!)

 

[IamJohn]

I hate to break it to you, but you wouldn't be able to get win7 to run even if you bypassed the memory check. XP would have enough trouble running on that amount, there's no way that win7 would run in any sort of a way that would be useable to you. Really the minimum amount for win7 is 1GB, and that's something that shouldn't be hard for any computer that has any buisness running win7.

 

[Quintillus]

I haven't been aware of any way to do that since Windows 95 (maybe 98?). If you can get it installed, you can start up with 256 MB of RAM (I've tested that), but you need 512 MB to install.

As for finding the RAM, Amazon seems to have some. It's a bit expensive per megabyte compared to more recent RAM, but not overly expensive. I'd recommend increasing the memory and sticking with XP/Vista/2000/whatever you are currently running over upgrading to Windows 7, actually. It's possible to run Windows 7 with 256 MB of RAM, but it sure isn't an ideal situation. I'd much rather be running Windows 2000, or at the most recent, XP, with 256 MB.

 

[GVBN]

10 seconds in Google gives me this

http://www.forum.syshacks.com/showthread.php?t=11552

Although you'll probably want to add another 0 to that new value so it matches the length of the original

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Why the hell would you want to install Windows 7? This just reminds me of back when Vista came out. People complained that it ran like crap. Well of course, if you try to subvert the minimum specs, it will run like crap! Stick with W2K on that laptop. You dont need Windows 7.

 

[Crbarber22695]

Why the hell would you want to install Windows 7? This just reminds me of back when Vista came out. People complained that it ran like crap. Well of course, if you try to subvert the minimum specs, it will run like crap! Stick with W2K on that laptop. You dont need Windows 7.

idk if you've run 7 yet, but it is a lot smoother and responsive, more than vista is and was. its not a memory hog and can run perfectly at 1GB, Vista needs like 2GB or more to be tolerable. And Windows 2000 now longer gets updates from Microsoft, so its very unsafe to use, because of virus', not to mention that more and more software doesn't support Windows 2K.

 

[Zelig]

idk if you've run 7 yet, but it is a lot smoother and responsive, more than vista is and was. its not a memory hog and can run perfectly at 1GB, Vista needs like 2GB or more to be tolerable. And Windows 2000 now longer gets updates from Microsoft, so its very unsafe to use, because of virus', not to mention that more and more software doesn't support Windows 2K.

GB and I have both been running Win7 for months...

Vista and Win7 are very similar in performance.

GB is right, something with 256mb ram shouldn't be running any Windows OS later than 2k, put linux on it if you want something more modern.

And Windows 2k gets security updates until July 2010, so you've got until then to make the $250 it will take to purchase a useful computer.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Zelig is correct. And you yourself just kinda stated the answer. It can run perfectly at 1GB. You're dealing with .25x that amount. I think somewhere between 768 mb and 1GB, the performance will go right down the drain.

Also, Vista is not a memory hog at all. My old PC runs it fine, even if I pull out half its memory, leaving it at 1GB.

Come on people, its been years since Vista came out. Why are we still baselessly harping on it, and more so, on Windows 7?

 

[candle86]

I hate to break it to you, but you wouldn't be able to get win7 to run even if you bypassed the memory check. XP would have enough trouble running on that amount, there's no way that win7 would run in any sort of a way that would be useable to you. Really the minimum amount for win7 is 1GB, and that's something that shouldn't be hard for any computer that has any buisness running win7.

wrong 7 is on my Pentium3 with 512mb PC100 just fine Turned off visual themes and it became perfectly smooth. 7 uses about as many resources as XP when themes are turned off