this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2024
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[–] CriticalMiss 39 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Although im part of the Linux crowd, if you’re tired of reapplying debloat scripts every update, you could get the W10 IoT LTSC edition that only has security patches with no updates. You will have to pirate it though.

[–] Blue_Morpho 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

A non pirate solution is Windows Server Essentials 2022. It's like $300, has zero bloat and updates don't ever hijack your settings. Oh and you'll get over 10 years of security patches.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

does Windows Server Essentials comes with a desktop GUI? Can you install Steam and things like that like you'd normally do in Windows?

I'm happy with Linux, but my brother who is a gamer has Windows but he's annoyed af by updates and the AI nonsense. This seems like a perfect solution.

[–] Blue_Morpho 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Yes it is regular Windows but stripped of all the consumer apps like TikTok and CandyCrush. It has one extra app: Server Manager (A GUI like Control Panel with buttons to disk manager, device manager etc) which loads at startup and is easily disabled. Under the hood the registry has changes that tell Windows to give background tasks equal resources to the foreground app. This is needed for server use for smoother multitasking like Linux, but at the expense of a few FPS in games. You can edit the registry in regular Windows to act like Server and vice versa. They use the same kernel.

[–] Cannonhead2 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is intriguing. Does it still try to force you to use a Microsoft account? Would make no sense for a server version, but you never know with microsoft's bullshit sometimes.

[–] Blue_Morpho 2 points 9 months ago

Not even an option for MS account during setup.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

It should be able to run all windows apps, though you can use microsoft store to install apps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This might be interesting. I'm looking to have a few installs to test some of my programs in an actual Windows environment without having to daily drive Windows and without having to deal with all the unnecessary changes MS wants to make.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Tiny 10/11

https://archive.org/details/tiny-11-NTDEV

Activation script

https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts

Edit: My Tiny10 reports as LTSC for some reason, but I'm pretty sure Tiny isn't based on LTSC now that I've done some more reading.

[–] Cihta 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Neat. I tried this last night on my once top of the line machine (in 2012) because why not..

It didn't upgrade my win10 install but at least it didn't delete all my data. Maybe I goofed on that as I was tired.

I used the 23H2 iso but it installed 22H2.

I didn't use the script, it picked up my existing valid key.

It fails to update. Perhaps that's the point or bloat would come back?

But if it can't update then what's the point?

Again, might be my fault but I'm not really trusting this image yet. Not enough to reinstall and relicense my tools.

I use Linux where I can but I'm bound to some windows-only proprietary software. I do use a stripped down win10 VM for a lot of it but at least it updates.

Will update this comment if i find that I'm at fault.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

LTSC only gets security updates. No feature updates.

It's intended for stability, so you don't wake up and suddenly nothing works right because of an update. That won't happen on LTSC.

I wouldn't use it to update an existing install, that's not what it's intended for (and probably pointless as it may retain stuff that came with the existing os).

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/ltsc-what-is-it-and-when-should-it-be-used/ba-p/293181

[–] Cihta 1 points 9 months ago

Thank you. It does seem cool but I can't really keep up. I appreciate the explanation. I really thought it was a fully workable de-bloated win11. Which it is, but I need long term installs. I learned a few things though! So not a waste.

If i could ever figure out how to run a windows app via VM. Seamless mode comes close but not quite enough.

Anyway thanks and I didn't mean to be negative, just didn't totally get it.

[–] banneryear1868 1 points 9 months ago

I do both and happy with debloated Windows 11 Enterprise with automatic updates restricted to security only. Pirating now is running a powershell command that fetches activation scripts from github.