windows server Windows 10 Pro vs Server 2016

[Cosmic Railgun]

So I’ve been running Windows 10 Pro for about 1.5 years now and I’ve honestly never had a problem with it. I immediately went into group policy editor and disabled web search, cortana, and windows auto update and have been using these settings and been happy with them. However recently windows action center has started spamming me with windows update notifications, most of the time while I’m in game which is SUPER annoying because it’s loud, won’t go away until I click the X, and most importantly keeps happening even though I have all notifications turned off in windows settings. I’ve searched everywhere on google and I can’t find a fix. I went into action center and I can see the “Windows update notification” box checked, but it’s greyed out and I can’t uncheck it. This has honestly got me thinking, could I just switch to windows server 2016? All I do is do light gaming and then primarily streaming and video editing.

[ProjectBox153]

You can use Windows Server as a desktop OS, but there are some things to take into account. Licensing can be expensive, support for applications (desktop use stuff) can be iffy, drivers can be a pain in the ass, etc. Otherwise I have no problems running Windows Server 2012 R2 or 2016, but I'll tell you now that 2012 R2 has been far more stable and faster for me. 

[Red :)]

I'm glad that I don't have to deal with this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But then on the other hand most programs I want to use won't run on WinXP

[MSWindowsinside]

The upcoming Windows 10 feature update detects when you are in game so you could wait for that. Also, couldn't you just turn off notification sounds or turn on quiet hours? Server 2016 isn't really a good option, you will miss out on new features for a decade (that's how long it will be supported for).

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Red said:

But then on the other hand most programs I want to use won't run on WinXP

Wow xp, thats so new, and there kinda thinking about updates. Im still on 95. 

 

Technichinally you can still get updates for XP aswell

[Cosmic Railgun]

3 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

You can use Windows Server as a desktop OS, but there are some things to take into account. Licensing can be expensive, support for applications (desktop use stuff) can be iffy, drivers can be a pain in the ass, etc. Otherwise I have no problems running Windows Server 2012 R2 or 2016, but I'll tell you now that 2012 R2 has been far more stable and faster for me. 

Which version of 2012 would you recommend?

5 minutes ago, MSWindowsinside said:

The upcoming Windows 10 feature update detects when you are in game so you could wait for that. Also, couldn't you just turn off notification sounds or turn on quiet hours? Server 2016 isn't really a good option, you will miss out on new features for a decade (that's how long it will be supported for).

That sounds great and all, but I really don't trust windows to detect every game I play

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, Olroy1234 said:

Which version of 2012 would you recommend?

I used a single copy of 2012 R2 Standard for two years with no issues. It still works perfectly to this day and is still as fast as a fresh copy of Windows, but the drive has some issues (not related to the OS). 

[HandymanHandy]

Just turn on Quite Hours, while you play game.

[Cosmic Railgun]

4 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I used a single copy of 2012 R2 Standard for two years with no issues. It still works perfectly to this day and is still as fast as a fresh copy of Windows, but the drive has some issues (not related to the OS). 

Looks like I could get an OEM copy on amazon.ca for $140, but that's OEM, and microsoft doesn't seem to sell anything but 2016 anymore

 

4 minutes ago, ptirth96 said:

Just turn on Quite Hours, while you play game.

Can quiet hours be permanently on? And does it just mute sound or notifications in general, because as I said I have every single notification setting disabled already

[FreeDev]

That's a bit of an overkill to simply install Windows Server 2016 Essential which is a $500 server license and it isn't really built for desktop usage. Maybe look into Linux + Windows with GPU Passthrough as a potential alternative? You could lock in Windows VM to prevent it from updating by either firewall or by making a snapshot of the OS and then destroy the update binary (so that it couldn't be run even if they want to) and when you want to update Windows, you can simply restore from snapshot and go from there though you would need to keep games or other software on separate drive to avoid the headache when updating through this method.

 

I am currently running Linux + Windows VM via GPU Passthrough. I honestly got fed up with Windows in general that I basically spend most of my time on Linux and only use Windows when absolutely necessary.

[Denned]

Disable notifications and Windows sound. You're going to have a bad time using Windows Server for desktop use.

[Froody129]

Am I missing something? Just update

[Cosmic Railgun]

3 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

Am I missing something? Just update

I mean, if it was an important update sure, but these are just tiny Windows defenders updates, not even that important. Which is another problem, if I install it, another one will be out in a day or so

[GoodBytes]

22 minutes ago, Olroy1234 said:

I mean, if it was an important update sure, but these are just tiny Windows defenders updates, not even that important. Which is another problem, if I install it, another one will be out in a day or so

So then don't disable updates. or use another anti-virus, which Win Defender will be disabled, and updates for it will be disabled, if I am not mistaken

[Cosmic Railgun]

8 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

So then don't disable updates. or use another anti-virus, which Win Defender will be disabled, and updates for it will be disabled, if I am not mistaken

I have a 2 year kaspersky key, but the problem with that is it pops up every time I try to watch a Twitch stream (it thinks twitch chat is insecure?) And whats to stop windows from notifying me about other updates

[Cosmic Railgun]

Small update, I think I found a work around for this issue so I can keep using windows 10 pro, I'm testing it on my work computer right now and it seems to work fine https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/platforms_lync_cloud/2017/05/05/disabling-windows-10-action-center-notifications/

[HandymanHandy]

9 hours ago, Olroy1234 said:

Can quiet hours be permanently on? And does it just mute sound

Yes and Yes.

[idiocracy]

The only problem with 2012 is that newer igpu's aren't supported by the manufacturers. So you're limited to 1024*768. Which sucks.