About MinWin Essence

As early as Windows 7 has not released the Beta version, everyone should have heard about the microkernel called "MinWin" in Windows 7, which is a small, independent, simple Windows. I believe that many people have been curious about this stuff, but there has been little detail about it.
At the recent Microsoft Technology Conference (TechEd 2009), operating system kernel expert Mark Russinovich disclosed the technical details about MinWin.
Let's take a look at important information about MinWin.
MinWin does exist in Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2), but it is not the kind of kernel in the traditional sense. In fact, it is a tiny Windows system with most of the basic functions and can be run separately, not only with its own core programs, but also with basic file systems, network connections, drivers and system services.
The Windows system has evolved over the decades and its volume has grown geometrically. It now contains thousands of EXEs, DLL files and APIs. Russinovich explained that they are interdependent with each other, and if one of the files is changed, you can't even estimate how many other files will be affected. When I wanted to improve Windows, I found that only by deep hands can we solve these interconnections.
MinWin, like a system that is independent from Windows, takes up only 25MB of disk space and 40MB of memory. It can be up and running on its own without relying on other components, and it also has direct access to the network. But that doesn't mean it will become a command-line-based ultra-lightweight operating system, but its own integration makes it highly independent.

In order to generate this MinWin, Microsoft needs to make an extra division of the lower part of the Windows architecture. Due to the complexity of the association between files and components, this split line passes through numerous DLL file chains and underlying system services. Russinovich said: “We need to figure out what is needed by MinWin and what is not. In the end, the Windows development team decided to create some unique DLL files for different names for MinWin (one of the main files is named: KERNELBASE.DLL). As a result, applications based on the original Windows platform will not be affected, and MinWin can also have a high degree of independence.

In other words, the components needed to generate this MinWin are not as easy to separate from the existing bunch of files.