Running Windows CE on the Nintendo 64
A developer known as [Throaty Mumbo] successfully ran Windows CE 2.11 on a Nintendo 64 by leveraging the console's MIPS CPU and minimal RAM requirements. Windows CE was designed for embedded systems and can operate on hardware with as little as 1 MB of RAM, which matches the N64's specifications. The project uses a custom board configuration compiled with Microsoft's Platform Builder SDK and is available on GitHub for others to replicate.
- ▪The Nintendo 64 uses a MIPS CPU, which is compatible with Windows CE.
- ▪Windows CE requires only 1 MB of RAM, matching the N64's available memory.
- ▪[Throaty Mumbo] used Microsoft Windows CE 2.11 Platform Builder to create a custom configuration for the N64.
- ▪The project can run on an N64 using a flash cart like the EverDrive, allowing applications to be loaded from an SD card.
- ▪Technical details and source code are available on GitHub.
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Running Windows CE On The Nintendo 64 No comments by: Maya Posch May 17, 2026 Title: Copy Short Link: Copy Although Windows CE doesn’t use the NT kernel, it’s similarly designed to run on a wide variety of system architectures. Since the Nintendo 64 uses a MIPS CPU it should basically just run either kernel. You might assume that the N64’s rather limited specs are a bit of a problem, but fortunately Windows CE is designed to run on a digital potato, and requires only a MB of RAM. Since that just so happens to be what the N64 has under the hood, [Throaty Mumbo] was optimistic about getting Windows CE running on the 1990s game console. The idea for this project came when [Throaty] was tinkering with an IBM Workpad Z50 laptop that uses almost the same CPU as the N64 and also runs Windows CE.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Hackaday.
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