I have a Toshiba Satellite L10-117 with 512MB RAM, Intel Celeron M 370, and a 40GB HDD. I attempted to install Windows 10 1903, Tiny10, and Technical previews (10073, 9926) with W8CPUFeaturePatch, but it didn't work. I either got a 0x0000005C error, or it was stuck at the Windows logo without the loading circle. I tried WinToUsb, gimagex, etc. Not even Windows 8.0 boots. For now, I'm using Windows 7 and Windows 8 Developer Preview until I manage to get Windows 10 on it.
How old is your laptop? It looks to be over 18 years old. I expect that even Windows 7 is slow on it.
I installed Windows 10 on an old Toshiba laptop. See Post #1031
It worked fine except for some minor things like fingerprint scanner. However, it really wasn't worth it since it was annoying slow. A few months ago I pulled its hard drive and put a different drive in it. I then installed Windows 7 Pro on it. Note even Windows 7 was slow but more tolerable than it was with with Windows 10.
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Windows 10 (and also Windows 11) will run fine on many systems that don't technically meet the minimum requirements, however, in your case, I think that trying to run with only 512MB of RAM is simply asking a bit too much.
Personally, I would consider any attempt on a machine with that little RAM to be a completely lost cause.
If the current version of Windows 10 fails then one could try an early release of Windows 10. Some people that installed Windows 10 successfully on old hardware after the release in 2015 found at some point they could no longer update it. I think that was around the 2019 release.
It is more than just the amount of RAM. I have two old laptops with Windows 10. Even with 4GB RAM they are really slow.
I have found the dividing line for computers to run Windows 10 to be whether they were Windows Vista Ready. If they were then there was a good chance they would run Windows 10. Even then there was no guarantee how well they would run. Also, you need good driver updates. If the hardware only has Microsoft default drivers that can make the hardware run slow.
I think old desktop computers have a better chance than laptops of the same age. They tend to have better supported hardware and and are faster overall than laptops. They also have better options for upgrades.
I still maintain that the amount of RAM (or lack thereof) makes this a non-starter. Even if you had a 14th gen Intel CPU, many TB of fast SDD disk storage, and the absolute latest of everything else but you had only 512MB of RAM, I would consider that a complete waste of time to even try running Windows 10. You 100% absolutely, positively, need more RAM.
I agree it is a non-starter. My point is that even if @baconkingroblox upgraded the RAM to its max (I think 2GB) the computer would still be too slow to run Windows 10. @baconkingroblox didn't say how fast the computer was with Windows 7. However fast that was it would even be slower with Windows 10.
I fount this post, #365. Someone with a the same Intel Celeron M 370 CPU and 2GB RAM on a laptop found that the newest build that they could install was Windows 10 version 1607, build 14393.
Windows 10 is quite amazing and I have run Windows 10 in 500 MB RAM (in a Hyper-V VM) but it was so slow. I got down as low as 384 MB before it gave up the ghost.
However, you really need an absolute minimum of 4GB but 8GB is better. Having said that I have an old Windows 10 32GB emmc tablet that runs in 1 GB RAM but cannot be updated. Actually ran quite well with original Edge but became a real dog with Edgium.
Windows 7 (Tiny7) is usable with updated & fixed drivers, but little to no DirectX 9 support. I might attempt installing Windows 10 (either 10074 or Tiny10) on it by using gimagex to install the install.wim/boot.wim file to an external HDD or a second partition, then copy a Windows installation from a virtual machine to where I installed the .wim file.
I'll upgrade the RAM to 1GB and maybe the CPU to an Intel T2050 soon.
A family member bought a Walmart "special" laptop for only $125 new. It also had only a 32GB EMMC storage. The problem with 32GB storage is that there is not enough free space for a yearly update. Have you tried to create a USB with the latest Windows 10 release and tried a clean install? That might work.
That is far too little RAM, even upgraded to the max the Satellite L10 can only take 1GB.
The Celeron M 370 is a 32-bit CPU
Its 40GB HDD is an IDE drive.
No, much as I enjoy pushing hardware to the limits (and beyond), that is a step too far.
The T2050 is also 32-BIT cpu.
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