I’ll soon be assembling a new PC and I need to figure out which version of Win 11 to use. I’ve not been able to find a good discussion of using IoT or LTSC for a “daily driver” gaming and productivity PC.
I’ll want to make use of a lot of Windows features like virtualization, the ability to run Android apps, and the Linux subsystem. I don’t need all the new feature updates immediately, but I also don’t want to be running an antique OS… Just a debloated one.
If you’ve navigated these waters I would love to hear about your experience.
Wants to run a ‘debloated OS’ and asking about Windows 11 installation advice. Wut?? Litteraly no reason to be running Windows nowadays. You can game on GNU/Linux just fine and if you really need something Windows specific you can always run it through Wine (with Bottles for instance) or in a Windows VM (if you have a gaming PC then you 100% have a powerfull enough computer for virtualisation).
adobe users need windows, it is the obvious route. A debloated version of Windows is better than Unix-like system for that. If one wants to learn more about software and computer science, or wants more customization than Linux and BSD are miles better. also running a VM of Linux inside Windows is arguably a better idea than running VM of Windows is Linux.
It’s like asking between Firefox and Chrome, I use Firefox but Chrome is still faster and more likely to run a site than firefox
To run virtualization and and WSL in a debloated manner you may as well just dual boot Linux and Windows. It’ll remove so much headache that WSL creates.
Dual booting is well documented and you get the best of both worlds. If you later find it’s not for you then you just erase the Linux partitions and stick with windows
most debian based distros are good…
I also don’t want to be running an antique OS… Just a debloated one.
This is not a Windows forum, so I feel justified in pointing out that in that case you should probably avoid Microsoft products entirely.
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution though. OP has asked specifically for information regarding Windows and even specifically mentions Linux in the post so it’s fair to say they’re aware of it and choose to stay on Windows.
LTSC is extremely feasible for gaming and productivity. As Codilingus already said, you can get the ISO and activation from MASSGRAVE’s site.
Depending on your requirements, you’ll probably quickly figure out you need MS Store for one thing or another (the inconvenience of having pretty much everything removed) so you’ll need a tool like this to install the store and, you can use Chris Titus’ Wintool to turn off the spyware. It also has a program downloader built in with a long list of useful software to help speed up your initial setup process.
Bookmarked this for myself later. THANK YOU!
Nice to see someone not just shitting on Windows.
Nobody WANTS to use Windows, but I also don’t want to fiddle with 17 different options and 12 builds of Wine to trick my one program I need to run on Linux.
Glad I could help.
I have to agree, I can’t say I like or want to use Windows but my experiences of random, unexplainable glitches, numerous hours of forum spelunking and the ever-present arrogant smarminess of a sizeable portion of the Linux userbase tell me which flavor of pain I prefer.
It’s the reason I dual boot, really. I periodically check to see if the programs I do want to use that work best on Windows work any better on Linux and it definitely gets better every time I check, but it’s just not there 100 percent yet.
And blaming users for no reason than Microsoft is a terrible corporation and how dare anyone use it is an awful tactic to get people to switch.
I believe the Steam Deck has done more for running Windows programs on Linux than any other singular project (in terms of mainstream adoption, obviously Wine/Proton is the reason that even works) and they accomplished it by working WITH developers stuck on developing for Windows. Not by just telling those devs how awful they are and if they’re looking for a half measure they can take to switch to Linux, they’re on the wrong game store or whatever other response they’ve given.
Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC is hands down the best! A nearly naked fresh Windows install. Just Defender and Edge. And even then, a lot of the performance impacting Defender options are unavailable due to the W11 version.
It’s still my go to for gaming. Once it’s all set up, it just stays out of the way, and runs as lean as modern Windows can.
I highly, highly recommend adding StartAllBack on top of it. Makes the bottom toolbar much, much better.
I always use a single copy/paste Winget command to install nearly everything in one go, without needing any interaction for each install. Also allows updating installed programs with a single command.
Massgrave.dev for ISO’s and activation.
Edit: For some features, you have to be comfortable using Powershell as admin. I myself have to Powershell install 2 AppX packages before I can use Winget. If you go with this version feel free to message me for help.
If you guys don’t want to use command lines, get uniget ui, it’s a really nice interface for winget
Linux
Ive been enjoying https://universal-blue.org/ lately.
If you go windows you will have to use a version with the windows store to make it worth using.
MS Store can be installed on LTSC quite easily so it’s very possible to still have the bloat-free version.
+1 I went from windows 11 >>> Bazzite OS. Never looked back.
+1 bazzite as well. It comes with waydroid for android apps, its Linux (so WSL covered), it does have a gaming focus, it has various Virtualization tools (toolbox, box-buddy) but you can get other options depending on what you actually want.
Don’t like it you can rebase to one of the other ostree based images from uBlue or fedora with about one command and a reboot.
+1 for Bazzite 💖
Linux Mint, of course!
That’s not what was asked.
And yet, it’s still the right answer
Mint is not a version of windows.
For some.
I don’t have any experience with win 11, but all I can tell you is that my dual booted win 10 iot ltsc 2021 edition just werks for me, same as any other windows, although I only use it for some VR games currently or some software that doesn’t support Linux.
I wouldn’t bother with LTSC. Just install Enterprise/Education and disable feature updates.
I use CachyOS on my gaming rig and it has been outstanding. The only ting that doesn’t work is the EA app.
Check out Maxima as a replacement for the EA app.
Oh nice, I’ll give this a shot! I tried installing the EA app through Lutris — it worked, but I can’t install any games.
This looks great, I have EA via Bottles currently for BF3/4 would love to switch to this. Totally get why it doesn’t support BF3, BF3 using a browser launcher for the PC version was insanely stupid
I’ll want to make use of a lot of Windows features like virtualization, the ability to run Android apps, and the Linux subsystem.
Just stick with regular windows 11. Windows updates don’t come out that often, and feature updates can be ignored for 6+ months.
There’s a lot of bloat in the commercial versions of Windows, both 10 and 11. It’s easy to install the MS store on LTSC and for those who don’t need/want the features, the bloat is entirely pointless.
And there’s a ton of tools to remove the bloat from regular windows. Honestly the biggest problem with those is they tend to go hog wild and remove too many things so you have to be careful with them and not just blindly click “remove everything possible”.
The major H2 updates do legitimately add a lot of features that people would actually want, that LTSC and IoT don’t get. If you’re mostly playing older games that’s not a problem. But if you’re trying to play games that just recently came out it can be. Windows 10 stopping at 22H2 has kinda put a pause on that, but I’m sure once it goes EOL Microsoft games will resume the “march of progress” and start requiring new features.
We’ll see. Game development still generally has a lot of advancements it has yet to leverage so I’m comfortable with the choice I’ve made. I know about the tools to gut regular Windows but I assessed it would take me more effort to weed through than start with bare bones and add what little I wanted in. I’ve also tended to find every feature and minor update has inevitably messed with an object that is supposed to belong to me so I’m all aboard for not having to deal with that as often thanks to the long-term strategy of LTSC.
