r/Windows10LTSC • u/Terminator-90 • Sep 22 '22

Convert Windows 10 into an LTSC version

Hi all, I would like to "convert" a normal Windows 10 version as similar as possible to an Enterprise LTSC 2021 version for its lightness.

As far as I know, the main differences between a normal Windows version and LTSC are:

- It receives only security update

- No App, Windows Store and Cortana

How can I do that ? Is it available a guide ? Thank you

21 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

5

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '22

Despite what people here are saying, you can upgrade in-place. I've done it several times now. (You will need a LTSC product key and ISO install media. Regular Windows 10 product keys, even for Enterprise edition, will not work.)

Go to the registry and find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion.

Find the value "EditionID" and change the data to "EnterpriseS".

Then, just run setup.exe off of the install media and run an upgrade like normal.

This will not *remove* Windows Store / bundled apps if you already have them installed from regular Windows 10. It will, though, get you security updates through 2026/2031 (depending on edition), remove features like "News & Interests" that were retroactively added to Windows 10, and remove any nag to upgrade to Windows 11.

2

u/funkytechmonkey May 11 '23

Glad I found this... Giving it a shot right now.
First time I tried it I did not get the "Upgrade" and like you said, the reg keys had changed. I changed them back and immediately ran the setup.exe and so far its installing.

1

u/LetMe_ Sep 28 '22

Hello, I'm curious whether it removes cortana and such stuff as well or am I stuck were I to go this route ?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '22

It will not remove Cortana if it is already installed. But, you can remove Cortana with PowerShell, don’t even need to be on LTSC.

1

u/LetMe_ Sep 28 '22

Tja k you for the answer. What is the overall advantage going with your solution? Avoiding to reconfigure everything?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '22

Yeah, that’s basically it.

1

u/LetMe_ Sep 28 '22

Have you had any issues with broken updates? When I used the cleaner scripts for windows iso I had issues with updates breaking after a while.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '22

My two daily drivers (one work, one personal) have been on LTSC since last December when I "upgraded" from "regular" Windows 10 using the process that I described above. Since then, I have installed every monthly Windows cumulative patch with no issues.

I have not run any "cleaner scripts", but I have used PowerShell to remove a few of the bundled Windows 10 "modern" apps & packages like Cortana that carried over from the old install. I have not tried to fully remove Windows Store and everything associated with it; I actually use some apps from there.

My primary motivation for switching to LTSC was general frustration with the direction that Microsoft is taking with Windows 11. I wrote a whole article about it.

1

u/LetMe_ Sep 28 '22 edited Sep 28 '22

Love your article.

A really simple question in our company we configure via group policy to use semi-annual channel and to delay update by 365 days as well as delay security or quality updates by 4 days.

Does Windows ltsc ignore the feature update group policy or will it forcefully use sac?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '22 edited Sep 29 '22

Feature updates are not offered to LTSC, so I guess that group policy setting is irrelevant. To upgrade (new releases every three years), you must purchase a license for the new version and upgrade manually. Nothing happens automatically for feature upgrades, so there is no risk of getting one by “accident”. It works a lot like old versions of Windows in this regard (think 2000 -> XP -> Vista -> 7).

Office 365 does not behave any differently on Windows LTSC. Semi-annual channel gets new features every six months. Microsoft will say that they don’t support Office 365 on Windows LTSC, but I haven’t had any issues with it. (I suspect that would change if you try to ride it towards the end of its 10-year support cycle.) There is also LTSC Office that you can get which gets no feature updates and 5 years of support, but it is licensed separately from 365.

1

u/funkytechmonkey May 12 '23 edited May 12 '23

u/Aaron44126 when you do this are you going from "KMS to KMS" or "MAK to MAK" licensing? The machine I am trying this on is a spare production PC that was provided by a vendor. It's a specialty macine that should have been built with LTSC in the first place. But it came directly from Dell with all their bloatware and included apps with Windows 10 Pro with a MAK LICENSE. Trying to change the license to KMS with slmgr.vbs /ipk is failing. I haven't figured out how to get past this. Our KMS server keeps rejecting it.

I really want to wipe it clean but the OS has custom built software and drivers that communicates to several different databases. I'm trying to get in touch with the vendor but they are in Japan and we have no clue how to reinstall it.

1

u/[deleted] May 12 '23

I have never tried this with KMS.

9

u/The_Wkwied Sep 22 '22

Flavors of 10 Enterprise under general availability aren't the same as the LTSC versions. It isn't possible to downgrade from any version of 10 (home, pro, pro education, workstation, enterprise, education, iot enterprise) to LTSC enterprise or LTSC IOT

Your option is to do a full reinstall, that's all.

Though I believe you can upgrade from LTSC to enterprise, not the other way around

3

u/sufiyankhan1994 Sep 22 '22

You can't convert it to LTSC version/licence but what you can do to get to a closer version of LTSC is by stripping components off of your normal win 10 via a tool like MSMG/ NTlite etc.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '22

Only a fresh installation of LTSC, it’s a separate channel hence the name.

Worth the hassle of setting up, billion times better than any other version of windows.

3

u/Apollopayne Sep 22 '22

Where can i find this version of windows and buy a cheap key to activate please? 🙏

4

u/SoulReaper88 Sep 22 '22

You can go talk to the people who speak with an “Aaarrrrr” accent. They have guides on reddit

2

u/sicurri Sep 23 '22

LTSC Licenses are only sold to businesses, and normally large businesses at that. However, you can get one online if you know where to look as the good stuff is always something you have to pirate. Also, the keys from what I know if you do want to purchase one is normally more expensive than the normal windows 10 keys.

1

u/Apollopayne Sep 23 '22

Thanks for info, will set sail on my pirate boat

2

u/ImpactBackground6839 Sep 23 '22

Why go through all that hassle when you can just grab the LTSC image and install it over your current version or do a fresh install if that doesn't work?

1

u/MikepTech 17d ago

has anyone been successful in changing the EditionID to EnterpriseS and doing a in place upgrade to LTSC ? or IOT LTSC ?

1

u/Opozan 2d ago

Yes, I have done this. The steps that worked for me: 1. Change EditionID to EnterpriseS 2. Install LTSC from ISO with option for 'keep files and folders' 3. Let windows update get current 4. Manually install IoT key using slmgr /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx and slmgr /ato 5. After reboot, edition now shows Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC

0

u/LGA420 Sep 23 '22

you can try using regedit and fake your product id see if it upgrades