Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB Edition is a winner for power users

I read somewhere it doesn't have clock or calendar. All I really care about is the clock and date thing down in the system tray.
Is that still present?

Those are still there as they don't have anything to with store apps. The Alarms and Clock and Calendar apps I think are actually useful, one thing Windows never had as a built in timer app which Alarms and Clock provides.
 
Is there any downside to using LTSB as a ln everyday rug for gaming/mining/plex/streaming etc?

I basically want Windows 10 without the bs, but don't want it to bite me in the future
 
Is there any downside to using LTSB as a ln everyday rug for gaming/mining/plex/streaming etc?

I basically want Windows 10 without the bs, but don't want it to bite me in the future

Yes there is, it's only available under Windows 10 Enterprise, so short of piracy it's not really a realistic option for almost all users.
 
Is there any downside to using LTSB as a ln everyday rug for gaming/mining/plex/streaming etc?

I basically want Windows 10 without the bs, but don't want it to bite me in the future

Dx12 support and no windows store for microsoft games like gears of war. Also as mentioned, you need an license agreement not available to the public. Pirating an operating system is probably the 2nd stupidest thing to pirate with the first being just downloading a keylogger.
 
Dx12 support and no windows store for microsoft games like gears of war. Also as mentioned, you need an license agreement not available to the public. Pirating an operating system is probably the 2nd stupidest thing to pirate with the first being just downloading a keylogger.

You are saying LTSB doesn't support dx12?
 
Don't know where you heard that, but LTSB definitely does support DX12. I just got finished playing a round of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on DX12.

Just for kicks I also installed 3DMark TimeSpy, which is a DX12 benchmark, and that runs just fine as well.

Heh, I guess I read wrong. My bad.
 
DX12 is a gimmick anyway.

Without me trying to derail the thread, it might be overall. But when I switched back and forth between it and DX11, it sure feels like it was overall much smoother. Less hitches and jank.
 
Without me trying to derail the thread, it might be overall. But when I switched back and forth between it and DX11, it sure feels like it was overall much smoother. Less hitches and jank.

Relative to Vulkan, which is really what every engine should be pushing for, it is a bit of a gimmick, but on its own it's solid and comparable as a technology. It's just limited to Windows 10 and that makes cross-platform stuff harder.
 
Bah, not worried about that.

I mean for one thing, you can just go with an activator, way easier to screen something that small for problems.
 
Back on topic.

I tried to convince myself that LTSB wasn't the way to go. So I made a complete image of my perfectly working LTSB install and used MSMG to create a "slimmed-down" version of the Windows 10 Pro Creator's Update ISO. Removed all the bloat, formatted my drive, and did a clean install.

And WOW. What an unbridled disaster it is. On the surface, it can be just as functional, if not more functional, than LTSB. But it's freaking bugs galore. I'm talking simple OS level stuff like DPI broken/wonky, Windows Explorer thumbnails broken (black corruption around rendered folder icons), screen jits/resets (without any errors), etc. Mind you, each one of these issues have had no real fix from Microsoft after a long time of them being reported. And it's certainly not drivers, given the fact that it's all the same as before. The only change being the OS.

After 2 hours of trying to put up with it, I wiped and restored my system image, and back to bliss. Everything just works in LTSB.
 
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Back on topic.

I tried to convince myself that LTSB wasn't the way to go. So I made a complete image of my perfectly working LTSB install and used MSMG to create a "slimmed-down" version of the Windows 10 Pro Creator's Update ISO. Removed all the bloat, formatted my drive, and did a clean install.

And WOW. What an unbridled disaster it is. On the surface, it can be just as functional, if not more functional, than LTSB. But it's freaking bugs galore. I'm talking simple OS level stuff like DPI broken/wonky, Windows Explorer thumbnails broken (black corruption around rendered folder icons), screen jits/resets (without any errors, mind you), etc. Mind you, each one of these issues have had no real fix from Microsoft after a long time of them being reported. And it's certainly not drivers, given the fact that it's all the same as before. The only change being the OS.

After 2 hours of trying to put up with it, I wiped and restored my system image, and back to bliss. Everything just works in LTSB.

The Creators Update has been reported by many to be just straight up garbage.. I don't care what the defenders in [H] will say.... [H] is a small sample size, compared to all the other complaints out there..
 
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The Creators Update has been reported by many to be just straight up garbage.. I don't care what the defenders in [H] will say.... [H] is a small sample size, compared to all the other complaints out there..

I'd be willing to give MS the benefit of the doubt...but I just couldn't. It was that freaking bad, and I'm not exaggerating. Simple things like corruption in Explorer thumbnails right out the gate of a clean install??? Sorry, not on my rig.
 
Yes there is, it's only available under Windows 10 Enterprise, so short of piracy it's not really a realistic option for almost all users.

There was a guy selling the licenses on the itialian ebay, I brought one and it activated fine. It seemed suspicous because he was providing his own hosted iso file, which obviously had me wondering if it had some kind of activation hack, but I activated it on a legit microsoft iso.

However he is now gone from ebay.

Aside from potential legal issues, it is a feature frozen version of windows 10, the full enterprise lets you choose the branch to use, these LTSB versions, you are locked to the LTSB branch. This is good or bad depending on what you want, the updates should work like windows 8.1 where its bug fixes and security patches only, so there should be none of those large feature updates which reinstall the OS. No MS store or cortana by default, can set telemetry to basic, can disable automatic updates and automatic reboots, however its still hard to pick and choose updates, you have to use that external tool microsoft made for that.

The latest LTSB is from 2016, so the latest security enhancements are missing from it, that gamer ultimate mode is missing and I think some updates related to HDR displays. But of course it has newer features than windows 8.1.
 
Windows 8.1 is a great option that a lot of people forget about. It got a lot of flack in its time but in retrospect, after using windows 10 for a while, 8.1 really wasn’t that bad. It’s probably the closest thing to 10 LTSB.
 
Windows 8.1 is a great option that a lot of people forget about. It got a lot of flack in its time but in retrospect, after using windows 10 for a while, 8.1 really wasn’t that bad. It’s probably the closest thing to 10 LTSB.

If you run a start menu replacement, you'd never know in daily usage- took me years to see the W10 interface because my Start8 install ported over upon upgrade and continued to function seamlessly :D
 
I'm content sitting on the 2015 LTSB for now. Pretty much everything works-ish. Few hassles.

So I'm content to forego the 2016 LTSB and wait for the next one to emerge.
 
Windows 8.1 is a great option that a lot of people forget about. It got a lot of flack in its time but in retrospect, after using windows 10 for a while, 8.1 really wasn’t that bad. It’s probably the closest thing to 10 LTSB.

This is the truth. I have had my copy in a VM for the last 4 years, and it's had zero issues.

I'm content sitting on the 2015 LTSB for now. Pretty much everything works-ish. Few hassles.

So I'm content to forego the 2016 LTSB and wait for the next one to emerge.

2016 LTSB is what I'm on now. With the Classic Shell Start Menu replacement, it's literally perfect.
 
Back on topic.

I tried to convince myself that LTSB wasn't the way to go. So I made a complete image of my perfectly working LTSB install and used MSMG to create a "slimmed-down" version of the Windows 10 Pro Creator's Update ISO. Removed all the bloat, formatted my drive, and did a clean install.

And WOW. What an unbridled disaster it is. On the surface, it can be just as functional, if not more functional, than LTSB. But it's freaking bugs galore. I'm talking simple OS level stuff like DPI broken/wonky, Windows Explorer thumbnails broken (black corruption around rendered folder icons), screen jits/resets (without any errors), etc. Mind you, each one of these issues have had no real fix from Microsoft after a long time of them being reported. And it's certainly not drivers, given the fact that it's all the same as before. The only change being the OS.

After 2 hours of trying to put up with it, I wiped and restored my system image, and back to bliss. Everything just works in LTSB.

This is because Microsoft has knowingly embedded key system parts to spy/ad components with the intention of breaking the system if someone tries to remove them.
 
This is because Microsoft has knowingly embedded key system parts to spy/ad components with the intention of breaking the system if someone tries to remove them.
hotfuzzgreatergood.jpg


How much of this is still left in enterprise? If some business's have to be hippa compliant, would that not break it?
 
I can't comment on the Home editions as I never use those, but I can state for a fact that you can remove every single component listed from the Professional version - post installation too, as well as pre-install as you have mentioned.

i.e.
No Cortana
No feature updates
No extra windows apps
No bloat apps and games that auto install.
No App Store
No intrusive account syncing

No can fully uninstall Cortana, MS Edge, the Store and pretty much anything else you've listed. And it's not simply hidden from view as you've stated. Powershell commands and local group policy settings let you strip all of those features and then some. I suspect the Home versions are harder to tweak and I can't really comment about those, due to a lack of experience with them.
But if you want to believe that you can't - then you're welcome to.

You're 100% wrong. You cannot "fully uninstall Cortana, Edge, the Store" and everything else I listed post-installation, with powershell or GPEDIT. I've tested it in FCU Pro, both with powershell and GPEDIT. Cannot be done, and you're welcome to prove me wrong with the exact steps. Be specific or FOH.

upload_2018-3-2_21-16-29.png


Again, I am talking about uninstalling cortana, edge, xbox, the windows 10 appstore and all the other preinstalled crapware so that no files remain, and no processes are lurking and transmitting to Microsoft.

Regardless, trying to get rid of all that garbage post-install is like trying to un-spill paint - by all means, knock yourself out if your time is worthless. Far better to rip it all out of by the roots pre-installation from the ISO.
 
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You're 100% wrong. You cannot "fully uninstall Cortana, Edge, the Store" and everything else I listed post-installation, with powershell or GPEDIT. I've tested it in FCU Pro, both with powershell and GPEDIT. Cannot be done, and you're welcome to prove me wrong with the exact steps. Be specific or FOH.

Again, I am talking about uninstalling cortana, edge, xbox, the windows 10 appstore and all the other preinstalled crapware so that no files remain, and no processes are lurking and transmitting to Microsoft.

Regardless, trying to get rid of all that garbage post-install is like trying to un-spill paint - by all means, knock yourself out if your time is that worthless. Far better to rip it all out of by the roots pre-installation from the ISO.

Yep, this has been my experience. You cannot completely uninstall it after the fact. Only way to do it is via MSMG post deploy, or however you want to modify the ISO to rip all that trash out. Doesn't matter since it's buggy to all hell anyway.
 
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How much of this is still left in enterprise? If some business's have to be hippa compliant, would that not break it?

Enterprise cannot be made emission-free at any telemetry setting, and Microsoft has refused to disclose a list of the datapoints transmitted at the "lowest" [0] Security data collection setting.
 
The only sure way to block the telemetry is via Firewall. I'm tempted to install wireshark and just observe the behaviors in different situations, but I know this would be very time consuming to be thorough.
 
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I've gotten a little lost on what's really real and what's pre-release... Do I need to talk to our enterprise media meister at work to fetch an ISO for 2019 and poke the KMS server, or is it still baking?
 
I've gotten a little lost on what's really real and what's pre-release... Do I need to talk to our enterprise media meister at work to fetch an ISO for 2019 and poke the KMS server, or is it still baking?
It's been on the volume licensing site since the 2nd.
 
Are you certain the "real deal" is posted? Your screenshot shows it's based on version 1809, which is the release that was pulled from mainstream Windows 10...
 
Are you certain the "real deal" is posted? Your screenshot shows it's based on version 1809, which is the release that was pulled from mainstream Windows 10...

The LTSB and now LTSC releases are pulled from mainstream Windows 10. I'd certainly like to be able to run the 1809 LTSC on my desktop!
 
I downloaded it before it was pulled. Not sure if the "fix" is re-released as of yet..
Installed in a VM for now... haven't had a chance to put it on my desktop as of the moment..
 
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