Windows 11’s ‘whole ISO’ squeezed into a CD-ROM

NTDEV, a cutting-edge tool developer, has unveiled their latest innovation in compressing Windows 11 down to an impossibly small size. Based on their highly anticipated and unreleased Pico11, they achieved a remarkable proof of concept that shrinks a Windows 11 ISO down to a mere 699,811,840 bytes, fitting it perfectly onto a 700MB CD-ROM without any wasted space.

This experimental installation runs on a test system, a virtual machine with 4GB allocated, and utilizes just 883MB of RAM. Surprisingly, the desktop appears familiar to current Windows 11 users - Calculator and Settings remain open, Notepad still functions, and Paint allows for basic graphic creation, just as before. However, the Task Manager exhibits a more aged, likely legacy version, possibly extracted from Windows 7, though NTDEV declined to disclose the exact origin.

NTDEV clarifies that this demonstration is merely an experiment, not a viable replacement for standard Windows installation, as Windows Update and general servicing have been omitted to fit within the CD-ROM's capacity. They emphasize that the showcased features are still experimental and not intended for practical use.

For those intrigued by this concept, NTDEV has promised to incorporate Pico11's capabilities into their Tiny11 builder tool, available on GitHub. Tiny11 has already showcased impressive ISO building prowess, with its Tiny11 mode, Tiny11 Core mode, and Custom mode options. Pico11 seems to be most similar to Tiny11 Core, as it omits servicing and recovery support, but includes some additional tweaks.

Tiny11 has historically produced even smaller Windows 11 installs, such as a 100MB distillation without any UI elements, and custom builds weighing around 2GB by removing bloatware and optimizing RAM usage to as low as 176MB. As more details about Pico11 emerge, a clearer picture of its capabilities will undoubtedly surface.