Windows 11’s ‘whole ISO’ squeezed into a CD-ROM
- ID
- 39558
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 26 Oct 2026, 9:40 PM
- Fetched
- 26 Oct 2026, 10:39 PM
- Provider
- Tom's Hardware
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11s-whole-iso-squeezed-into-a-cd-rom-sub-700mb-disk-boots-to-the-desktop-runs-apps-just-like-the-microsoft-original
- Source URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/feeds/all
Summary
- Score
- 3.0
- Created
- 26 Oct 2026, 10:41 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coders
What happened
Tom's Hardware reports a project that squeezed a bootable Windows 11 image onto a CD-ROM-sized disc under 700MB, with the claim that it boots to the desktop and runs apps like the Microsoft original. The excerpt supplied here is almost entirely page chrome — navigation, membership prompts, and newsletter signup text — and contains no details on who built it, which components were stripped, what tooling was used, or how app compatibility and updates behave.
Why it matters
There is nothing actionable in this text yet: no method, no file list, no compatibility results, no distribution link, and no discussion of licensing or update behaviour. Before anyone treats a sub-700MB Windows 11 image as a usable base for a dev machine, a demo kiosk, or a low-spec lab, they need the actual build notes — what was removed (WinSxS, recovery, Defender, driver store?), whether Windows Update still functions, and whether it is a legal, patched redistribution. Treat the headline as a curiosity until those details exist.
Discussion angle
Ask what a stripped Windows image would have to keep for your workflow — driver store, WinSxS, Defender, WSL2, Docker Desktop — and whether a shrunken install is worth the update and licensing risk versus just using a Linux distro or a VM snapshot.