High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! MinWin is a term used informally by Microsoft to describe the kernel and operating system components that form the basis of releases of Microsoft Windows starting with Windows Vista. The term was first used in 2003 to describe approximately 95% of the common components of the operating system, but has over time come to refer to a significantly smaller portion thereof. Its most recent and most well-known variation was a minimalistic, self-contained set of Windows components that shipped as part of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.