Pico11, a proof of concept Windows 11 install ISO image that can fit on a traditional 700mb CD-ROM, has been released to the NTDEV community. The significance of this engineering marvel lies in the fact that the new OS can be made to work on heavily constrained hardware with minimal storage capacity, far from the standard Windows' GB of memory requirements as official releases go. Now we get to see a functioning desktop surface through all that compression.
NTDEV releases Pico11, a proof-of-concept Windows 11 ISO that fits on a 700MB CD-ROM
A hacked ISO image from the developer named NTDEV, known as Pico11. The image offers all of the critical features, allowing for a boot to a desktop and typical application launch as per the Microsoft version. NTDEV verified that all of the necessary things are still working well, such as Calculator, Settings, Notepad, and Paint, despite being part of the compressed environment.
The final ISO image file ends up being 699,811,840 bytes in size, fitting on a traditional optical disc. Running it in a 4GB RAM virtual machine environment takes about 883MB of RAM in use. The process of getting to this point involves stripping away the Windows Update and general servicing functionality of the system, so it's more focused on space preservation than auto-updating.
Parts of the system may be using older versions of items rather than the newest ones. The Task Manager interface looks slightly more old school than the latest Windows 11 requirements. NTDEV doesn't specify where it comes from exactly, but it could potentially be from Windows 7, for example. Currently, NTDEV is working on adding the compression features into the Tiny11 builder tool to make it more readily available.
No official pricing or release timeframes are available for Pico11. It is a grassroots proof of concept project. It's more of a proof of technical capability in optimizing an OS.
So, no real formal release here. If you want to try it, be sure to watch NTDEV channels for info regarding its integration into Tiny11.
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