Tiny11 Core is a 2GB Windows 11 ISO with ‘limited security and NO serviceability’ — Here’s why you SHOULDN’T use it
Tiny11 Core by NTDEV saves disc space but gives up too much to achieve its small size.
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What you need to know
The mad scientists at NTDEV havereleased Tiny11 Core. They were able to shrink the roughly 20GB Windows disk size to an amazing 3.3 GB on disk and a 2GB ISO file. To do this they utilized LZX disk (de)compression to make the file size so small as well as removing several core features. NTDEV says this type of install is great for scenarios where you need to run Windows in a VM or for testing purposes (like testing a driver or an application).
As such, I strongly recommend to exercise increased caution if you’re trying to use tiny11 core on production systems, as it has limited security and NO serviceability. It is not a replacement for tiny11! It has a different purpose: to be a quick-and-dirty testbed or development platform.
Why you shouldn’t use Tiny11 Core
NTDEV warns that to achieve the dramatic decrease in the file size for Windows 11, they had to make significant cuts. Some of the significant changes that had to be made are shown below, but they also cut more, to see everything changed look at theTiny11 Core XML.
Here are some of the core Windows 11 components that were disabled in Tiny11 Core.
Running Windows without Defender or Windows Update enabled in a production environment would be extremely unwise. The only safe way to run this operating system would be in a virtual machine or an air-gapped PC that has a very specific purpose.
However, while its use cases are limited, the fact that NTDEV has been able to shrink the size of Windows 11 so drastically is exciting for possible future official releases from Windows. Xbox has the chance to make agaming handheld empireand If Windows can follow some of the size-saving innovations of the Tiny11 core developers it could be extremely useful for the handheld gaming PCs of today and tomorrow.
Can you think of a use case for Tiny11 Core? Does it surprise you to see Windows 11 reduced to a 2GB ISO?Let us know in the comments.
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Colton is a seasoned cybersecurity professional that wants to share his love of technology with the Windows Central audience. When he isn’t assisting in defending companies from the newest zero-days or sharing his thoughts through his articles, he loves to spend time with his family and play video games on PC and Xbox. Colton focuses on buying guides, PCs, and devices and is always happy to have a conversation about emerging tech and gaming news.
