True I guess not bundling Onedrive or forcing to pre-install and stuff does makes it less but that’s as far as I understand it.
No, the settings are completely different. Enterprise has telemetry settings that don’t exist in consumer editions.
2 Likes
for what edition
I use Windows 10 Home, soon to switch to Pro version and I use in a VM Windows 11 Enteprise IoT LTSC (part of testing a little of it’s like long term viability).
so this is why I can’t pick just one and needs to be a multiple choice.
I think each version has pros and cons. Pro version has more apps installed by default, thus providing more attack surface.
Whereas LTSC does not receive as frequent updates as the Pro (heard that security related patches are almost equally applied, but I’m not 100% sure about this)
Since Microsoft exposes the iso publicly for download, i wouldn’t call it “piracy” to just download IoT LTSC from their own server.
1 Like
they’re not publicly exposing the ISO intentionally here, it’s still piracy as you;re not meant to have the copy without purchasing it.
even the link says literally:
oemsoc.download.prss.microsoft.com
even in the filename it has the keyword:
ENTERPRISES_OEM
and to quote massgrave:
1st link is from the official OEM portal, and 2nd file is taken from MVS and hosted on massgrave.
which you’re as an individual not supposed to get access to the OEM Portal this way
You’d still need to activate it and depending on how you do that, only then you’d be infinging on their copyright. It wouldnt stand in court that you were not “supposed” to obtain it when they allow you to.
Just pick the most ‘exotic’ one. It’s more interesting to hear that you are using Enterprise than Pro for example.
I have stated what editions I use as a last resort so take it for what you will, and enterprise is not exactly my main operating system so there’s that
honestly whenever Microsoft or others care that’s a completely different set of story, If Microsoft was really pissed at massgrave exisitng, wouldnt they have taken it down long ago? I’m just saying.
Yes thats true. They really don’t care. They already won by people choosing to use their OS - no matter what nieche way.
The way I see it is like this: The vast majority of users will inevitably be on Pro (hopefully), so the guides should target that version. However, if it turns out that there is a sizeable chunk of users with Enterprise, and given the privacy improvements it offers, it becomes sensible to list certain Enterprise-specific recommendations
1 Like
That was exactly what I wanted to determine with this poll, right. I’ve personally only ever used Enterprise, but as we do more work on Windows-related guides we decided it probably makes more sense for us to install Pro and work from that baseline. I still wanted to gauge whether there was a significant Enterprise base or if I am just an outlier lol
2 Likes
IoT Enterprise LTSC heavily modified with winreducer/ntlite, striped to the barebones, optimized, compressed and booted from ram through grub4dos.
3 Likes
I currently operate Windows 11 Pro on my workstation, which has been “cleansed” using the AME [Ameliorated] 11 Playbook (I prefer my system to be as barebone as possible). And I’m maintaining it by upgrading/resetting biannually using ISOs sourced directly from uupdump/net 
Windows 10 walking towards its end 
I think adding a poll for Windows 10 and 11 will garner more insights and attention.
My whole family uses Pro, as well as most people I know that are somewhat tech literate.
Thank you for including those of us who are stuck on Windows for one reason or another. It often feels like we get stomped on for not using Linux, but it isn’t always an option. Plus, I want to help my friends with privacy, and there’s no way that the vast majority of them will ever use anything other than Windows.
So thank you for taking the time to develop some guides for it!
I use windows 11 IOT LSTC customized with :
no Cortana
no copilot
offline account
disabled Location service
disabled Tailored Experience
no Activity History
no Input personalization
no Adversiting ID
…