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Help me navigate the world of debloated/custom Windows 11 Installs (lemmy.ca)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've never had to use Windows 11. I have Windows 10 on my main machine and toy around with different Linux distros on my spares.

Now that I'm building a computer for my folks, I'm faced with the real problem that Windows 11 is going to be a big shift for them (also using windows 10) and it's going to contain so much crap (Copilot, Start Menu ads, etc) that is going to ruin the experience/overwhelm/turn them off.

I've read, with passing interest, about the myriad of "debloated" Windows installs, but never took a serious look at what is going on and what is good. Here's where I hope c/technology can point me in the right direction. Thanks!

Edit - I should have known to expect the Linux suggestions despite specifically asking about modifications to Windows. Linux is not an option due legacy software compatibility - they do more than use a browser.

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[–] mikyopii 35 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I think there are two options personally.

The Windows 11 LTSC version just leaked on Chinese forums. I wouldn't use that ISO but would wait for the official release. Seems like the "best" version of Windows.
Use Chris Titus' WinUtil on a normal install: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil. He has put a lot of effort into this tool and it works great.

If you want to go full try-hard you can do it yourself. Buy NTLite and go to town on stripping stuff out. You'll probably break something but it is fun to play with.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh nice! A new tool! Do you happen to know how this compares to win10privacy?

[–] mikyopii 2 points 8 months ago

Never used that tool so I can't really say :(

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You should be able to download the Win11 LTSC direct from MS (pretty sure that's where I got mine).

That's supposedly a time/feature limited version, but if you use the licensing script (also from Microsoft), it will permanently activate it.

I have it activated in a VM I'm testing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Someone else mentioned the Windows 10 LTSC, good to know there is one for 11 as well. I'll go research these a bit more, thank you.

The machine I'm fixing up has an embedded license. Think I'll need to toy with the activation script?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I've never toyed with an embedded license, wonder how that works.

I'm cautiously optimistic it doesn't matter. Give it a try, worst that happens is it doesn't work.

LTSC is kind or necessary for devices that need to just run without updates messing with them.