I'd like to install Windows 10 2016 Enterprise LSTB N. (I want it to respect the European RGPD and I want as little crap as possible.) What is the best way to to so? 1) Which tool should I use to download which iso? 2) What is then the best way to KMS activate? (How long will the activation be? 90 days, or 180?) I saw on the forum that there are various tools available, hence my question about which one would be the most appropriate and simple to use. Thanks in advance,
Well it is your choice to respect so leaving it at that but just for info,N version has more chances of having issues compared to regular version for anything multimedia/gaming related(do note it is chances not certainty,if you are lucky you might not even face a single issue).
People always underestimate that the removed media runtimes are needed for a lot of processes. Aside from games any media device not having a USB-Storage-Mode will refuse connection, and that story continues ... . N is not any 'Feature' version but crippled by EU laws, fine but distinctive difference.
Thanks! Then I'm considering going for LSTB (instead of LSTB N) and use NTLite to trim the features I don't want (including any app whatsoever, defender, etc). Of course, I need to choose carefully what I get rid of. But then, I'll have an iso I can install on various computers with the features I want (including mine if need ever be). That's simpler than removing stuff after installation, on each computer. Do you have any advice about this triming with NTLite? Things to keep? Things to remove?
For LTSB there are tons of scripts (using installwimtweak). Defender, Telemetry and XBox related stuff can be removed without breaking functionality. LTSC is another story.
Better to disable rather than remove. So far there's nothing I've not been able to shut off I didn't want in LTSC. The controls are still there, though some can require a bit of research to ferret out. LTSC being devoid of UWP apps is a big help though. Even so the UWP environment is still there. You can't remove or disable that since it's deeply embedded, what they call the "Immersive Control Panel" (Settings) relies on it.
You're right for LTSC, LTSB (14393) has a different win packages structure and can be 'chopped' to a certain degree without much problems.
From the long-term stability aspect disabling should be preferred over removing. When installing it on different systems matching specific peoples needs, one can re-enable stuff easier than trying to reintegrate the removed packages in case problems arise. Couldn't notice any performance issues/degradations when going from LTSB 2016 to LTSC 2019, former was chopped, latter uses Private Win10 and WUMGR (from my sig).
1: LTSC N download found in the station. LTSC is better than LTSB. 3): KMS38 will be activated by 2038
Thanks all. I've opted for Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB, without changing the iso, and removing things afterwards. I have another computer which is happily on Windows 8.1 Pro. a) Is there any advantage of going to Windows 10 LTSB? [I doubt it, but I'm checking ] b) To do so, is the best to reinstall (hence reinstall the programs too....), or is it possible to swiftly upgrade Win 8.1 Pro to Win 10 Enterprise LSTB?
The one and only reason I run LTSC is for the hardware support. Otherwise I'd be on LTSB or even win7. One problem I can see with LTSB is third party software support will probably dry up soon. The reason being lifetime of Windows versions in the semi-annual channel is two years. I imagine software makers are not going support older versions of Windows like they used to before this MS semi-annual brainstorm. They basically sped up the release and retirement cycle of Windows versions by a factor of five, really sucks IMO. LTSB/C is supposed to have a five year with ten year extended support cycle like versions before win10, but I don't think software makers are going to honor that.