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Windows 10 LTSB - no more damn updates

Windows updates got you down? Do you dislike some of the new features of a windows version newer than 1607? You want to avoid any further feature-updates but still get the bug fixes and security patches? You don't care about any Windows 10 features like edge, the WINDOWS STORE (might be actually important to some) or Cortana (or maybe you wish they did not exist)?

 

If your answer to all or most of these questions was a “yes” then you might be a prime candidate for a version of Windows 10 called “LTSB” or “Long-Term Servicing Branch”.

 

This editions intended use case would be critical applications in large businesses. It will only get thoroughly tested security patches, no annoying updates and will forever be on the feature-level of 1607 or the “Anniversary Edition”. It comes without edge, Cortana and even lacks an image viewer. More to that later. It has a special disk-check running at startup which saved my work after a power outage and gets all the features from the “Enterprise” editions of windows.

 

You down? Wanna switch to LTSB?

 

Try all this out in a VM first (I personally use hyper-v, if you don't have a windows pro version then you might wanna give VMware player a try).

 

A few warnings:

 

-this should only be done by more advanced users, you won't really find help on any issues which might be OS related as LTSB is almost strictly used by businesses who talk directly to Microsoft about any problems

-not that many drivers come preinstalled (compared to the normal Win10), prepare to spend some time on the internet or even better; grab the latest drivers for all your devices and expansion cards beforehand

-microsoft won't sell you a key to this os, more about that later though

-as I mentioned before, no windows store

 

Still here? Then let's get started!

 

If you have a legit key of Windows 10 you should connect that with a Microsoft account ( see this article ) in case you'd like to go back to that.

Now well start downloading LTSB, not from a Microsoft server but from a site called “The Eye” which is NOT a pirating site. This is completely legal.

Windows 10 LTSB from “The Eye”

After the download has finished, use Rufus (recommended by Linus) to create a bootable installer USB. If you have troubles getting the PC to boot from your created USB then reformat it and set Rufus to “DD”-mode, this fixed some issues I had myself.

Now just install it like any other version of Windows 10. Deactivate the telemetry crap and create a local account.

 

Done.

 

Now over to some programmes I’d recommend:

-ImageGlass, a very light yet powerful and versatile image viewer

-SpyBot - anti beacon to remove the last bits of tracking

-ClassicShell will add better windows search and will enable you to finetune the look of your taskbar. I’ve set mine to fully transparent, just beautiful!

 

Now you are left with an unactivated copy of windows. This might be ok to some, you can just set desktop backgrounds by right-clicking the downloaded image, but others want the “full” experience.

Sadly this is not easily possible as MSFT won't sell keys to LTSB to the average joe.

 

Stay away from cracking programmes, please do. You just got a fresh install of Windows, why get malware all over it?

 

Utilising small written lines of batch code that use licensing servers accessible by the public to activate windows is pretty easy. I find this morally ok as there is no way of buying this version and users with existing windows keys already gave Microsoft their money. If they would let me buy it, I would be happy to pay, but they won't.

BE CAREFUL! If you find a way of doing this then you NEED to know what you are doing and you NEED to know what that batch file is doing.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS AS THIS IS BORDERLINE ILLEGAL

 

Hope you enjoy your update-free windows experience!

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  • 2 months later...

ImageGlass looks like a good replacement photo viewer for the stock one in Windows 10. The stock Windows 10 photo viewer is awful, slow, lacking features, and surely filled with data-thieving malware like everything else Microsoft is making these days.

 

I just installed and tested ImageGlass, and it's super responsive (obviously, it isn't doing hidden tasks in the background like Microsoft's Windows 10 photo viewer), has the features that Microsoft's Win 10 photo viewer is missing, and even has more, like customizable toolbars, and theme editor.

 

It has a good full-screen mode that is separate from its slideshow mode, and it has no obnoxious next and right arrows on top of pictures at diametrically opposite ends of the screen. In ImageGalss, those are are in the toolbar, and right next to each other.

 

In ImageGlass, the mouse scroll-wheel actually zooms in and out of pictures, like it should - faster and to greater maximum in and out extents than the stock Win 10 photo viewer.

 

ImageGlass also has both rotate-left and rotate-right buttons, which respond instantly (the stock Win 10 photo viewer has only a rotate-right button, and it is slow to respond).

 

 

So far, it looks to me like it's the perfect basic photo viewer that Microsoft, if they were actually a good company, would have made and released. It's a quality refinement over the Windows 7 photo viewer, and much more effective and intelligently-designed than the stock Windows 10 photo viewer.

 

Thanks for sharing it!

You own the software that you purchase - Understanding software licenses and EULAs

 

"We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the american public believes is false" - William Casey, CIA Director 1981-1987

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Also, Windows 10 LTSB / LTSC is the idea version of Windows for most situations. It's clean, fast, configurable, tested especially for stability, and upgrades to a newer version only once every 2 - 3 years with those upgrades being entirely optional. It's the version of Windows 10 that everybody was wanting to have.

 

Windows 10 LTSC 2019 is out now. I've already got the download, but am waiting for licenses for it to start being sold on eBay and reddit. Though, I guess that a Windows 10 LTSB 2016 license should work with it, and those can be bought on eBay and reddit for cheap.

 

I'm not sure that a person requires a license to legally use LTSB / LTSC, though. Microsoft has their KMS activation service which perpetually extends the trial period of an Enterprise / LTSC edition of Windows 10 by 180 days. There are 3rd-party tools that will automatically keep renewing an Enterprise / LTSC edition of Windows 10 indefinitely via KMS, so that a person never has to do anything to keep using their copy of Windows 10 Enterprise / LTSC.

You own the software that you purchase - Understanding software licenses and EULAs

 

"We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the american public believes is false" - William Casey, CIA Director 1981-1987

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  • 8 months later...
On 10/10/2018 at 11:25 PM, Delicieuxz said:

Also, Windows 10 LTSB / LTSC is the idea version of Windows for most situations. It's clean, fast, configurable, tested especially for stability, and upgrades to a newer version only once every 2 - 3 years with those upgrades being entirely optional. It's the version of Windows 10 that everybody was wanting to have.

 

Windows 10 LTSC 2019 is out now. I've already got the download, but am waiting for licenses for it to start being sold on eBay and reddit. Though, I guess that a Windows 10 LTSB 2016 license should work with it, and those can be bought on eBay and reddit for cheap.

 

I'm not sure that a person requires a license to legally use LTSB / LTSC, though. Microsoft has their KMS activation service which perpetually extends the trial period of an Enterprise / LTSC edition of Windows 10 by 180 days. There are 3rd-party tools that will automatically keep renewing an Enterprise / LTSC edition of Windows 10 indefinitely via KMS, so that a person never has to do anything to keep using their copy of Windows 10 Enterprise / LTSC.

glad you like LTSB ?
I would just like if more people knew about this

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Since you're resurrecting your thread, I figured I'd chime in with my own experiences.  I have been running LTSB since  ~Aug 2017 after a Win 10 update triggered a blue-screen while I was writing a paper (many steps had been taken to ensure this wouldn't happen, metered connection set etc...).  Needless to say I was pissed and took my frustrations to social media where a friend introduced me to LTSB.  I spent a day or so running the LTSB install through it's paces on a VM to see if there was any problems with using this as a daily Win 10 machine.  

 

So far I've only had two distinct problems with my (now upgraded 2019) LTSC copy:  The lack of Windows store isn't really a problem, but for an assignment I needed to use an application that I could only get from the store.  I had a huge work around to complete like 10 minutes worth of work.   Second, (this may be hardware but I can't verify 100%) after upgrading from 2016 LTSB to 2019 LTSC, I have had my external Logitech C310 (manuf ~ 2012/13?) unable to be recognized by Windows as a camera device.  Through some miracle I found that rolling back camera drivers, then reinstalling the same drivers I was using from a source other than Windows or Logitech, I managed get it working.  There was no science to finding this out, just a lot of trial and error.  With that I can't say it's 100% going to any driver problems you might have, but it worked for me.

Honestly I agree with everything OP said regarding 'do this at your own risk'.  This is why I started with the install on a VM.  I really think the benefits outweigh the risks of install.  If you're looking for a way to activate it, I'm not going to link, but there are some clever applications that can be found with a quick Google and some keywords.  This is where you run a risk, but chances are you probably know what you're doing if you're this far into the game (and also reason 2 I tested everything on a VM first).

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17 hours ago, Leoplate25 said:

Hi, i am using Windows 10 LTSB 2016 because LTSC 2019 hangs on me (i have to do a hard reset). The curious thing is that i have an i5-9600k and the LTSB, according to MS, doesn't support 7th, 8th and 9th gen Intel processors. So far: 0 problems/issues. In 1903 Pro version i had BSOD, in both 1809 versions (LTSC and Pro) i have the same hang problem, the only version i can run without any issues is version 1803 and this LTSB 2016. I only noticed one "issue" to give it a name, i am going to explain it the best i can.
Using this version i can play all games at 60Hz (yes, i have a 1080p 60Hz monitor, ha!) without a problem, but when i play Farsight Pinball Arcade i have a minimal issue: when i press ESC during the game to pause it, it takes near to 5 seconds for the screen to reappear (it stays in black for these ammount of seconds). I "solved" the issue by lowering the Hz to 59 but i have problems with the other games, for example: Far Cry New Dawn has stutters and some minimal lag (it doesn't happen with 60Hz). I solved the pinball issue by using Borderless Gaming software and i play at 60Hz all games now. The question is: Why this happens with this version of Windows and it doesn't with, for example, 1803? It happened to me with an Skylake system too, with LTSB 2016 (i don't think that is the processor). What can i do? I think it has something to do with the monitor or the HDMI cable. 

are you sure its LTSB related and not a windows 10 issue in general?

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23 hours ago, Zeke13 said:

Since you're resurrecting your thread, I figured I'd chime in with my own experiences.  I have been running LTSB since  ~Aug 2017 after a Win 10 update triggered a blue-screen while I was writing a paper (many steps had been taken to ensure this wouldn't happen, metered connection set etc...).  Needless to say I was pissed and took my frustrations to social media where a friend introduced me to LTSB.  I spent a day or so running the LTSB install through it's paces on a VM to see if there was any problems with using this as a daily Win 10 machine.  

 

So far I've only had two distinct problems with my (now upgraded 2019) LTSC copy:  The lack of Windows store isn't really a problem, but for an assignment I needed to use an application that I could only get from the store.  I had a huge work around to complete like 10 minutes worth of work.   Second, (this may be hardware but I can't verify 100%) after upgrading from 2016 LTSB to 2019 LTSC, I have had my external Logitech C310 (manuf ~ 2012/13?) unable to be recognized by Windows as a camera device.  Through some miracle I found that rolling back camera drivers, then reinstalling the same drivers I was using from a source other than Windows or Logitech, I managed get it working.  There was no science to finding this out, just a lot of trial and error.  With that I can't say it's 100% going to any driver problems you might have, but it worked for me.

Honestly I agree with everything OP said regarding 'do this at your own risk'.  This is why I started with the install on a VM.  I really think the benefits outweigh the risks of install.  If you're looking for a way to activate it, I'm not going to link, but there are some clever applications that can be found with a quick Google and some keywords.  This is where you run a risk, but chances are you probably know what you're doing if you're this far into the game (and also reason 2 I tested everything on a VM first).

Whats your opinion on LTSC? Is it worth switching over from LTSB? I've been thinking about doing the upgrade but haven't found any good reasons to do so, afterall my system is fully setup, stable and works perfectly well.

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4 hours ago, Leoplate25 said:

I think so, because on 1803 Pro and other Pro versions didn't happen.

It might be driver-related as LTSB doesn't come with a lot of standard drivers. An example would be my DAC which would run perfectly under Windows 10 Pro but when migrating to LTSB needed it's device driver to be installed for it to function at all. Are your GPU drivers fully updated and what GPU/Display do you have?

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15 hours ago, Leoplate25 said:

Hi! I have an EVGA GTX 1070 Ti SC and an LG 23MP55 IPS LED monitor. I have driver version 430.64 (one of the latest). But i had this "issue" with a 6600k, same monitor, and with an ASUS notebook (both using LTSB).

EDIT: I think it is a delay linked with the Hz. Using 59Hz i don't have this delay (but Far Cry ND doesn't run well). Using it at 60Hz i run all games fine but Pinball Arcade, when i press ESC to go to its options it takes about 3 seconds to come back from a black screen and the HDMI logo appears on the top right of the monitor, using it at 59Hz it doesn't happen and using it with Borderless Gaming program (playing Pinball Arcade on windowed mode) runs fine.
Another thing i noticed is that i use a DreamCast emulator (NullDC) and when i open it it takes 2 or 3 seconds to let me press the menu to start a game, but it only happens once, when it is cached it doesn't happen anymore. On Pro i just run fine (but i get BSOD's on 1903 and hangs on 1809 and i got tired of it, that's why i move to LTSB).

EDIT 2: I found a question that explains what i think it's happening to me: "ALT+Tab too slow because it is waiting for display before performing an application switch."

Thanks in advance! 

Hello again,

 

I did some googeling and really found no good answer.

You might have some luck trying borderless-fullscreen as to me it sounds like the issue is an old Windows 10 one.

Its caused by the switch from the games own window to explorer window manager thus could be remedied by using borderless (which uses explorer window manager and will only result in about 1-2 fps losses, I think LTT even made a video about this).

 

Sorry for not being of much help but to me this sounds like an edge case,

have a nice day and try the borderless thing.

 

Greetings from germany!

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I've been running LTSC myself, just joined to my corp domain for activation. Just a newer version, haven't had a single issue with it myself.

CPU: i7-4770k @4.8ghz---Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth z97---Ram 32gb Corsair Vengeance---GPU: 2 EVGA GTX 980 4gb way sli---Case: Corsair 600T White---Storage: 500gb 850 Pro & WD Black 4tb---PSU: Corsair RM1000

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7 hours ago, Icuw1pc said:

I've been running LTSC myself, just joined to my corp domain for activation. Just a newer version, haven't had a single issue with it myself.

Nice, are there any benefits from upgrading? I've been thinking about going LTSC but haven't really found a feature I need and don't yet have. Are there any decicive differences that you've notived so far?

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I don't use Microsoft Store with its UWP programs for anything, so there isn't anything attractive about a non-LTSC version of Windows for me in the first place. However, some people have said they need Microsoft Store or UWP for something, and so they can't use LTSC.

 

Shortly before E3 2019, Microsoft announced they are walking back from UWP and are refocusing on Win 32, and are going to have their games available on multiple platforms and not just the Microsoft Store. So, I think there is really no reason to use a non-LTSC version of Windows now, except for maybe some old program that hasn't been de-UWPified and listed on other digital retailers.

 

For my own uses and privacy concerns, I see non-LTSC version of Windows as cut-down and obsolete versions of Windows.

You own the software that you purchase - Understanding software licenses and EULAs

 

"We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the american public believes is false" - William Casey, CIA Director 1981-1987

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5 hours ago, BlackJackTheRipper said:

Nice, are there any benefits from upgrading? I've been thinking about going LTSC but haven't really found a feature I need and don't yet have. Are there any decicive differences that you've notived so far?

I honestly haven't noticed anything, some report performance issues though. I have it installed on a few machines one being an old desktop I use for a Media Server and it still performs well. Through all of the testing I've done with VM's I haven't seen a difference either.

 

LTSC will have support for a few additional years also.

CPU: i7-4770k @4.8ghz---Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth z97---Ram 32gb Corsair Vengeance---GPU: 2 EVGA GTX 980 4gb way sli---Case: Corsair 600T White---Storage: 500gb 850 Pro & WD Black 4tb---PSU: Corsair RM1000

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3 hours ago, Delicieuxz said:

I don't use Microsoft Store with its UWP programs for anything, so there isn't anything attractive about a non-LTSC version of Windows for me in the first place. However, some people have said they need Microsoft Store or UWP for something, and so they can't use LTSC. 

 

Shortly before E3 2019, Microsoft announced they are walking back from UWP and are refocusing on Win 32, and are going to have their games available on multiple platforms and not just the Microsoft Store. So, I think there is really no reason to use a non-LTSC version of Windows now, except for maybe some old program that hasn't been de-UWPified and listed on other digital retailers.

 

For my own uses and privacy concerns, I see non-LTSC version of Windows as cut-down and obsolete versions of Windows.

I've gotten Windows Store to work though and, if I get around doing it, will add a tutorial to the original post here.

There are loads of possible workarounds, some of the ones I've tested will also (try) to install malware. This behaviour was remedied by my antivirus (and occured in the VM I use for testing) but still, dangerous waters.

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1 hour ago, Icuw1pc said:

I honestly haven't noticed anything, some report performance issues though. I have it installed on a few machines one being an old desktop I use for a Media Server and it still performs well. Through all of the testing I've done with VM's I haven't seen a difference either.

 

LTSC will have support for a few additional years also. 

Sure but I don't feel like there is any reason to upgrade my machine to LTSC as the new features just dont matter to me that much. If there'll ever be a version offering real benefits I might just update but not now.

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I would like to thank @BlackJackTheRipper for bumping this thread for me to see! Re-doing my build in the coming days and will be using LTSC ❤️

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On 6/26/2019 at 6:16 PM, SenpaiKaplan said:

I would like to thank @BlackJackTheRipper for bumping this thread for me to see! Re-doing my build in the coming days and will be using LTSC ❤️

Nice to hear and good luck with LTSC, come back here if you encounter any issues and I'll help you as best as I can.

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