You plan to deploy a containerized application that requires .NET Core. You need to create a container image far the application, the image must be as small as possible. Which base image should you…

Nano Server is a stripped-down, headless Windows installation purpose-built for containers and cloud-native workloads, offering a dramatically smaller disk footprint than all other Windows base images. It supports .NET Core runtimes and excludes unnecessary components like a local logon, Windows Installer, and most management tools, making it ideal for minimal container images.

Server Core includes a broader set of roles, features, and APIs compared to Nano Server, resulting in a significantly larger image size unsuitable for minimal container requirements.

Windows Server (full installation) includes all standard server roles and the full Win32 API surface, producing a much larger base image than Nano Server.

The Windows base image includes the full desktop experience components and is the largest of all Windows container base images, making it the worst choice for minimizing image size.