For educational purposes ;)

https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts

https://massgrave.dev/

If you want avoid using activation scripts, build an enterprise ISO with UUPDump and then use vlmcsd to activate it. All I can say is that way has worked for about 5 years so far with no issues...

What does this do?

Honestly I'm not just being difficult, I'm still not sure. Is it someone of pirating windows or office?

Basically you can get normal Windows already without paying from Microsoft itself. But on this site they also publish Windows LTSC ISOs which you can not get directly from Microsoft unless you are an Enterprise.

Plus, the scripts allow you to activate all of these Windows version and I think also Microsoft Office.

The script is abusing bugs that are long known but not fixed. And Microsoft does not seem to care, as the script is hosted on GitHub (which is owned by Microsoft) since a long time.

The repository also has ~60k stars, so it isn't "secret" that this exists.

Thanks for the explanation, makes sense

LTSC was the best version, but now apps are starting to require specific release versions of windows. The current Windows 10 LTSC is based on Windows 10 21H2, and will not be updated beyond that. Ableton 12 for example requires Windows 10 22H2.

So until Windows 11 LTSC is released, I have been using Windows 11 Pro Education. It seems to be almost as good as LTSC (ships without most of the bloatware), but allows you to run a current version of Windows.

Windows 11 still feels much slower than Windows 10, even on a modern system clicking on the wifi icon takes 1-2 seconds for the window to open and then you can see elements of the window load. Opening file explorer is the same. This a fresh install on a Ryzen 6800H laptop with a fast NVME SSD. Then there are all the popups asking me to use OneDrive, Edge, Etc. Truly a terrible OS.

I'm curious if Ableton 12 actually requires 22H2 or just is only supported.

I was struggling with what to do with this recently on my wife's PC. I don't care for 11, she isn't interest in linux and 10 drops support in 2025 for regular editions. I went with enterprise LTSC iot because I figured that the support problems probably won't amount to much until after 2025 anyway. That version goes to 2032 of security updates but I suspect the install won't last that long regardless.

My computer was last upgraded 11 years ago (I had to do some trickery to be able to install Win 11) It obviously has specs dwarfed by yours. The wifi icon appears the instant I click. Freshly installed whenever Win 11 was available.

Didn't try the Education, will do it sometimes

The problem is that it also doesn't the fix for what is broken, for instance the start menu was unusable for half of the life of win10 (was hanging every time you opened it).

Windows server is a similar alternative but has the same problem than LTSC.

I did this for a while. I ran into something that was unfixable. It was quite a few years ago and my memory is hazy. But it was games related and I couldn't run something due to missinf DLLs and not being able to install a fix (or just paste in the required DLLs). I eventually gave up. I tried for days to find a work around. Shame, because it is a much better experience.

There are several ISO dumps available on the internet that you can download untouched LTSC images from. You can check the hashes from the official Microsoft support site if you need to be sure.

Afaik it lacks a few things important for gaming on new machines.

Well, if you really want to play games then you should just use Linux nowadays.

Not even ironic, I see more issues on Windows nowadays than on Linux. That might say a lot about the games which I play, though.

The DE most people will end up running (Gnome) doesn’t even support VRR.

Older games have a decent probability of stuff like controllers not working.

Gaming on Linux has vastly improved yes, but its still much worse than on Windows.

Agreed, there's no reason to go through crazy hoops to use an OS made by a vendor that repeatedly and openly works against the user at every step of the way.

There literally is.

Because it’s better for gaming.

I say this as someone that doesn’t care in the slightest about gaming OR Windows. I just fail to see what this “pretend that a vendor that you don’t like isn’t offering anything of value” attitude ever does for anyone. It certainly doesn’t add to the conversation in any meaningful way.

> a vendor you don’t like

That’s quite some euphemism for describing a vendor that steals sensitive user data, bombards users with ads, and pulls all sorts of tricks to force users into submission. They’re even stealing IMAP credentials [1], and I’m just stunned that they can pull that off without fear of criminal prosecution. Windows is hostile, unreliable, and unfit for any purpose.

But people are supposed to turn a blind eye because of some diminishing advantage the OS has in gaming? At what point can one be allowed to say no?

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38212453

I fairly strongly disagree, gaming on Linux has come a long way but you are still at a mercy of a compatibility tool like Proton.

So if a game updates breaks something or the dev just happens to add something that isn't compatible (which has happened enough to make it here) than you may not be able to play the game you want until it is fixed.

Also add in that if you are not on SteamOS and you want to play games outside of Steam it is more difficult for non technical people (or just people who are not as up to speed on that part of Linux).

It really isn't there for most people when you can run Windows (like the LTSC version that I do) and have no compatibility issues.

But not every game runs on Linux. And there are games I like to play with friends that aren't on Linux, so for better or worse I'm stuck with Windows for gaming.

And that's not to speak of VRR issues, essentially no HDR support, etc.

For one, I missed the game bar, for its convenient background recording capability. So what I did is I re-enabled the Store, and then download the game bar with it.

Not sure what you are talking about. I am gaming on it for years and as my main PC.

Like what?

I had driver issues, the nvidia drivers refused to install on LTSC due to "system too old" error. True, at the time it was very new laptop, and it would probably work fine if I tried it now.

Better support for scheduling on Intel’s heterogeneous cores (≥12th gen CPUs) and AMD’s aggressive dynamic frequency scaling (Ryzen 7040) isn’t coming to Windows 10 ever, from what I understand.

100% this. For me Windows has become an unfortunate necessity just due to gaming (Please don't try to tell me I can just game on Linux, I want my games to work every time and I don't want to deal with Proton).

Even going so far as installing Windows 10 LTSC on my steam deck and it has been amazing. Better performance, battery life, no annoying features, etc.

I am looking forward to Windows 11 LTSC to come out to get some improvements, but I have not had any issues with gaming on Windows 10 LTSC.

Proton is a dream nowadays. It seems to get 10x better every year. The problem is that there are some popular games that use a kernel-level anti-cheat that will never work in Proton. Honestly, I think the best option is just to not buy those games in order to disincentivize their bad behavior. Yes, I'm fine with never playing Fortnite if it means never having to deal with Windows again.

It isn't just kernel level anti-chat, while yes that is an easy thing to point the finger at and valid.

It is also just the chance of a game making some random change that has nothing to do with Anti cheat and that breaking the proton compatibility, this happened with Halo Infinite and others.

The ease of proton also goes out the window once you leave Steam and SteamOS. There are various things out there but if you own games on other platforms it does take more work which is a barrier for non technical people.

Don't get me wrong, Proton is a great piece of technology. But it is still a compatibility layer that will never be perfect. A layer that I don't have to even think about on Windows, everything just works.

It is all tradeoffs.

Yeah I’ll pass on games that essentially want to install spyware only to be forced always online anyways. Never have to deal with that issue on indie games.