Comment by LeifCarrotson

3 months ago

Rufus and Massgravel still function as a pressure release valve to prevent too much outrage from building up, but Microsoft is working hard to direct more and more of the flow into the channels that get them the most revenue. If HN readers want to set up a machine without any of the bloatware, with all the "developer-mode" switches turned on, without a Microsoft account, there are still ways to get it done.

I actually just set up a new laptop this morning with Windows 11 LTSC 24H2. I'm an engineer, I can edit config files and burn bootable USB drives and install Intel storage drivers in the setup environment and validate sketchy batch files and compare ISO hashes. Now that I'm done, it's got a pair of fully-offline user accounts, it stays out of the way, it boots in seconds, the Windows-only software I have to use for work is no longer nagging me about being out of support, I'm quite happy with it.

But it was not trivial. Had I not known what I was doing, there were a dozen ways it could have gone wrong. I suppose it's nice that I'm not vulnerable to Mossad surreptitiously installing a MITM-patched OS while I sleep, but secure boot makes it scary simple to turn your new laptop into a $1800 brick. And I have a good sense for which links are the tools I actually want to download and run, and which links are scams.

But it's nowhere near smooth enough for me to point a non-technical peer at it and say "Oh yeah, if you don't want your OS to do that, just install LTSC."

20 comments

LeifCarrotson

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soupfordummies  3 months ago

The cheeky response to that is: At that point you might as well have just installed Linux :)

  • protonbob  3 months ago

    You may have missed this part. >the Windows-only software I have to use for work is no longer nagging me about being out of support

  • LeifCarrotson  3 months ago

    I'd like to. If you have contacts at Autodesk, Siemens, Fanuc, and Rockwell who can port their software to Linux, would you suggest that to them for me? Thanks!

logifail  3 months ago

I've been using Win10 LTSC since it first shipped, but the pain of it just keeps on increasing (not being able to load the latest .Net; Teams and more and more other apps refuse to run despite the OS still being "in support" now and for many years to come).

Any tips for moving to Win11 LTSC? (I've been avoiding Win11 for as long as I can...)

  • MarcelOlsz  3 months ago

    We're so screwed. Tahoe sucks so my Sonoma days are numbered. Win11 sucks and win10 days are numbered. On the other hand the rails guy released Omarchy linux which is pretty great but it will take months to make it usable.

    • pcardoso  3 months ago

      I'm getting used to Linux again after 20+ years of Mac OS.

      First, just using more cross-platform software on my Mac. Ditched Safari for Firefox; replaced my MacOS-only password manager; using iMessage less.

      Bought the cheapest Framework 13 laptop, running stock Fedora. Omarchy is interesting but too weird for me. Gnome, is still familiar enough.

      Using the Linux machine more and more, feels very fresh. To be honest not feeling this excited in a long time. Perhaps the year of Linux on the desktop is indeed coming.

      1 reply →

    • eviks  3 months ago

      But win 10 days are numbered in years, same for Sonoma? Definitely longer than months (though in reality think it should take much longer)

      9 replies →

throitallaway  3 months ago

> secure boot makes it scary simple to turn your new laptop into a $1800 brick

Maybe I'm misunderstanding how secure boot works, but why would it prevent you from using the hardware? At worst I'd think you'd just need to reinstall your OS. That's not a brick.

  • Ethee  3 months ago

    Setting up secure boot on newer motherboards usually involves some resetting of the hardware security keys related to the TPM chip and other modules. Which if not done correctly, can 'soft-brick' the motherboard requiring a BIOS reflash.