A Windows Kernel in a Browser Tab, Part I: Cold Boot, Fast Boot, and Four Megabytes
Summary
A Windows Kernel in a Browser Tab, Part I: Cold Boot, Fast Boot, and Four Megabytes explores nanokrnl, a 64-bit kernel running inside a browser via a small WebAssembly emulator named nanox. It details why traditional emulators struggle, how the snapshot-based Fast Boot works, and the resulting footprint of about 4 MB RAM and a 901 KB gzipped snapshot, with architecture specifics and validation approach.