Reasons to stick with LTSC 2019 or 2021?

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by genuine555, Oct 23, 2023.

  1. genuine555

    genuine555 MDL Expert

    Oct 3, 2009
    1,671
    91
    60
    Hi,

    I'm finally gonna be moving PARTIALLY from win7 to win10 due to a new laptop. Older PC is still running win7 and will continue to until it simply doesn't work anymore.
    The new laptop is running Linux and I'll make it dualboot with win10, but win10 will still only be used for the absolutely necessary like office 2019 (which i use for writing projects), and Linux is my main laptop OS.

    Question (since I'm fairly new to the whole win10 debacle) :

    I'm gonna do either the enterprise LTSC 2019, or the iOT LTSC 2021 (because both have the ten year support line)...

    But are there any reasons why one would stick with the 2019 version over the iOT 2021? Or vice versa?

    Thanks for clarifying, I just want to make sure I'm installing the best possible version. imo they still both s*ck but that's beside the point here.
     
  2. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

    Oct 30, 2009
    49,647
    103,299
    450
    Another post about LTSC confusion?

    The whole purpose of LTSC is that people can enjoy it for a very long time without getting forced feature updates aka upgrades.

    It's all about what feature level you need, IoT Enterprise 2021 LTSC is not different from normal Enterprise 2021 LTSC. only licensing and 5 extra years of support but considering all the questions about what to use it probably will be 2024 LTSC next year.

    If your system runs fine on 2021 then use 2021.
     
  3. genuine555

    genuine555 MDL Expert

    Oct 3, 2009
    1,671
    91
    60
    Hi mate, thnks for your response. However, I know the yeahs and neays about the LTSC version compared to iOT and say pro or home..
    But would there be other reasons why someone would install the 2019 instead of the 2021? Like compatibility issues or other quirks?
     
  4. Shortyportuguese

    Shortyportuguese MDL Senior Member

    Apr 3, 2019
    490
    137
    10
    Probably hardware requirements?
     
  5. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

    Oct 30, 2009
    49,647
    103,299
    450
    What hardware requirements? i run all LTSC builds on all different hardware from ancient to modern, never met hardware requirement limits (only AMD had some timing problems iirc on all up to 2019 or 2021 LTSC).

    In general it's the older the hardware the older the windows build runs best and because LTSB/C is long term supported that will still run and run best.
     
  6. Dude Guyman

    Dude Guyman MDL Senior Member

    Jun 20, 2017
    329
    326
    10
    In my case:
    LTSB 2016 was my favorite, but it is just too old now and some drivers (newer Nvidia) will just refuse to install on it. So that's a nope.
    LTSC 2019 had some problems, like USB audio...was it drop outs/stuttering? Popping? It's been a while, but it had quite a few annoyances and older WDDM support. Good riddance.
    LTSC 2021/21H2 is just better all around. This is the one to use unless there is a specific reason not to.
     
  7. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

    Oct 30, 2009
    49,647
    103,299
    450
    That i can't tell, i only use GPU in CPU or very cheap generic gfx cards (on the mainboards without VGA/HDMI/DVI connectors.
    Never experienced that but some swore it happened but iirc on very specific sound hardware.

    Recently i installed these systems:

    e2100 with 2GB RAM = 2016 LTSB x86
    e6420/7100/Q8200 with 4GB RAM = 2016 LTSB x64
    i7 3770 with 8GN RAM = 2016 LTSB x64
    i3 4330 with 4GB RAM = 2016 LTSB x64
    i7 4770k with 16GB RAM = 2021 LTSC x64 (will probably be 2016 LTSB soon too)

    Before i decided i ran all LTSB/C builds on them except 2015 LTSB, that one is a pest to update.

    On all stuff like offline integrating updates takes ages, for simple surfing and reading emails it will be sufficient but don't expect any real performance on any of those ancient systems.
     
  8. genuine555

    genuine555 MDL Expert

    Oct 3, 2009
    1,671
    91
    60
    Thank you for the input gents. I went ahead and installed iot LSTC 2021 with KMS.
     
  9. Shortyportuguese

    Shortyportuguese MDL Senior Member

    Apr 3, 2019
    490
    137
    10
    That's fine, and what about the next release from Windows LTSC? Will be 10 2024, or 11?
    If W11, will be the same hardware requirements as Windows 10 LTSC 2021?
     
  10. acer-5100

    acer-5100 MDL Guru

    Dec 8, 2018
    4,003
    2,919
    150
    #11 acer-5100, Oct 25, 2023
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2023
    Given no one has replied with a meaningful reason, I try to summarize

    1809 is a half baked release.

    Go either to 2016 or 2021 (or server 2022).

    2016 is lighter and way more suitable for older PCs

    But 2021 can use the graphical WSL and in general a way more capable Linux support.

    There is also a backported (from win11) WSA package.

    Also you can use VMware together with Hyper-V (albeit with reduced VMware performances).

    With server 2022 you can also have the nested virtualizzation on AMD CPUs, something that may be important for people with AMD HW.
     
  11. Dude Guyman

    Dude Guyman MDL Senior Member

    Jun 20, 2017
    329
    326
    10
    #12 Dude Guyman, Oct 28, 2023
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2023
    FYI in case someone is not aware:

    1507 = LTSB 2015 ~not even an option anymore, 2016 was better.
    1607 = LTSB 2016 = good but too old
    1809 = LTSC 2019 = buggy, shoddy release, getting old
    21H2 = LTSC 2021 = good and newest

    24H2? = WIN11(12?) LTS*= Late 2024? I predict Windows 11/12 bloat/spyware TRASH, and time to work on those Linux skills.
     
  12. acer-5100

    acer-5100 MDL Guru

    Dec 8, 2018
    4,003
    2,919
    150

    I already mentioned some cases where 2015 is the only option if you want to move on from win7/8, in 2023 it still works like it worked in 2015

    The only annoyance is the size of the updates if you're the kind of person sick with the latest update mania, for the rest a great release, perhaps the one with the fastest RemoteFX release.


    Getting old, who cares? Buggy, I wouldn't say that. It's just no meat no fish release. Too old to be bleading edge, too new to have the best compatibility with the past, if you need the deduplication compatible with late win 10/or win 11 (something that 2015/2016 don't have) is better to use 1803 (another great release, albeit not officially available as LTS)

    A good one, albeit bit ruined after 868/906 with the late Edge crap, with the forced removal of RemoteFX, and with all the annoyances related to modern settings over CPL applet.

    Better to make your own 2004/2009 than downloading the official 21Hsomething
     
  13. genuine555

    genuine555 MDL Expert

    Oct 3, 2009
    1,671
    91
    60
    yeah, went with 21h2 guys. working somewhat but having a current issue with update. the service won't start anymore after (oc) disabling a bunch of stuff. Trying to find a way to update offline like we used to with win7, but no luck. Any tips would be great. Tried installing like four different .net 3.5 packages but none of them actually install anything.

    Since jumping to win10 from 7 : NOTHING BUT CRAP.
     
  14. noway1

    noway1 MDL Novice

    Dec 8, 2019
    17
    7
    0
    #15 noway1, Aug 11, 2024
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2024
    Each new release contains more goodies to help MS with their spying, so still evaluating if benefits of 21H2 outweigh the costs compared with LTSC 2019. I just hate that Edge bundled with 21H2 can't be uninstalled completely and forever. 21H2 has lots of Event ID 131 errors in Event Viewer and Event ID 200-202 warnings whereas LTSC 2019 didn't. Not a big deal, since MS may fix with an update. My wife's "Windows 7 Games for Windows 10 and 8" all disappeared without my consent so had to download and install the latest version.
     
  15. noway1

    noway1 MDL Novice

    Dec 8, 2019
    17
    7
    0
    Best to make images you can revert back to, if you do a lot of disabling stuff. Macrium Reflect works good. Plus log all changes.
     
  16. James Bond 007

    James Bond 007 MDL Junior Member

    Nov 16, 2010
    99
    61
    0
    I am running Windows 10 LTSC 2019 and Windows Server 2019 (and also Windows 7 / Windows 8.1 / Windows Server 2012 R2) on my PCs (based on motherboards approaching 9 years old) and the systems work fine.

    As they work pretty well for me and are supported until January 2029, I see no reason to go to (IoT) LTSC 2021 at this time, even though I have it in a partition on my main computer.

    Windows 10 LTSB 2016 might be lighter, but as someone stated it no longer supports newer Nvidia graphics cards (RTX 3xxx / 4xxx cards require Windows 10 1809 / LTSC 2019 or later) so I can't use it on my main system with a RTX 3060 Ti.

    I do have LTSB 2016 running on an older computer with a motherboard more than 10 years old and it works fine there.
     
  17. James Bond 007

    James Bond 007 MDL Junior Member

    Nov 16, 2010
    99
    61
    0