Windows 11 26H2 RAM Usage Drops to Just 2.5GB With Rufus

A Windows 11 26H2 user has reported surprisingly low memory usage after installing the operating system with Rufus 4.15. The system consumed just 2.5GB of RAM, raising questions about how much Microsoft’s latest Windows optimizations and Rufus’s customization options contribute to the result.

The user tested Windows 11 26H2 on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 5 3500 processor and 16GB of DDR4-2133 RAM. The system also reported 2.1GB of cached memory, indicating that Windows continued to use available RAM for caching.

While the figures look promising, it remains unclear whether Rufus’s optimizations or Microsoft’s own improvements deserve most of the credit.

Rufus can reduce Windows 11 background processes

Rufus introduced a new Quality of Life option in version 4.14, allowing users to remove or disable certain Windows 11 components during installation.

The feature can disable Microsoft apps such as Teams, Outlook, and Copilot, which might otherwise launch automatically and consume system resources.

By reducing unnecessary background activity, Rufus can help Windows 11 use less memory, particularly on systems with limited RAM.

However, the reported 2.5GB figure does not establish how much memory Rufus saved compared with a standard Windows 11 26H2 installation.

Microsoft is also working to reduce Windows 11 RAM usage

Microsoft previously confirmed plans to improve Windows 11 performance and reduce memory usage, with particular attention to systems equipped with 8GB of RAM or more.

The latest results suggest that third-party customization tools can help users achieve a lighter Windows 11 installation, although a direct comparison would be necessary to determine whether Rufus outperforms Microsoft’s native optimizations.

Meanwhile, Microsoft continues developing Windows 11 26H2, which now has its own dedicated Installation Assistant tool. The company is also revamping Windows 11 Search as part of its broader efforts to improve the operating system.

Via Neowin