Unofficial lightweight activated Windows 11 that strips Edge, Defender, is available

Last month, around the time when Microsoft released Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11 and Windows 10 for June 2024, it also published updated Windows 11 install images with fresh Defender definitions.

Meanwhile, Windows enthusiasts are always looking for ways to speed up PCs or run them on older or slower hardware, and oftentimes, the way to do it is to strip out features like telemetry or crack down on background apps. Official Microsoft apps like Edge are also removed and important applications like Windows Security and Microsoft Defender are also done away with so as to do away with background processes as far as possible.

A new Windows 11 China Government edition is currently doing the rounds on the internet and it has no Edge or other Microsoft apps and Store, but that also brings up the drawback of this edition as it has no Defender which means a system using this will not be secure.

It has been unofficially activated using KMS38 by MASgrave. KMS38 is an offline activation method that works by tricking the GatherOSstate EXE file so as to extend the KMS (Key Management Service) activated period up to January 19, 2038, 03:14:07 UTC, instead of 180 days. If you are wondering, the Y2K38 super-bug prevents going further. GatherOSstate essentially helps determine if an OS in its current state is eligible for an upgrade.

The officially available latest Windows China Government edition was released back in 2017 for Windows 10.

You could certainly try this out on a virtual machine but it is not recommended on an actual PC. Users who want an officially recommended Windows version are better off using the Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC that was released in April and the system requirements are also far more modest with no mandatory requirement for TPM 2.0 or Secure Boot, making it far more ideal for users who want to use it on their real systems.