5 ms·

Every time I hear about Windows 10 LTSC I look for a place to buy a key or download the ISO from Microsoft and I can’t find it. It seems like they don’t want t

Every time I hear about Windows 10 LTSC I look for a place to buy a key or download the ISO from Microsoft and I can’t find it. It seems like they don’t want to sell it.

g_p 6y ago
It's only available through their volume license scheme. And therefore people will continue to use regular versions and suffer from these issues. Microsoft seems to have forgotten that small businesses (who don't want to deal with volume licenses) run Windows... They get Windows when they buy new computers.
- wayoutthere 6y ago
  That’s because it’s a product that’s designed for developers to sell alongside the product it empowers. You shouldn’t need to buy a volume license unless you’re building, say, CNC machines. That a product developer sold you a product that needs to be automatically rebooted isn’t really Microsoft’s fault.
  - g_p 6y ago
    Indeed, although there's a huge amount of the economy built upon small businesses building things and selling them to other small businesses, neither of which wants to deal with a subscription-based volume license deal. The factory I know using CNC machines bought them many moons ago, for a fixed payment (the old fashioned way), from a small business. They don't have any kind of subscription, they are fully offline, and they won't go anywhere near any kind of network. I don't really see recent Microsoft product lines delivering what's required in these scenarios. Arguably this is more of a use-case for Windows Embedded, but that has its own licensing challenges. Ultimately the small system integrators will end up shipping with Ubuntu if Microsoft makes it too hard to build products around the Windows ecosystem, as it will save them time, money, effort and support costs.
- Shared404 6y ago
  I've heard you can get them from resellers individually, but haven't tried personally.
  - foepys 6y ago
    Is that legal? I know that MS went after a volume license reseller in Germany not too long ago.
- EvanAnderson 6y ago
  I have small business customers w/ < 10 PCs who use Microsoft volume licensing. I almost always recommend Customers purchase volume license Windows Server to allow the software to be re-assigned to new hardware-- particularly when virtualization is in play. It's not burdensome or expensive to deal with. (I'm not a reseller, so it affords no advantage for me-- kickbacks, etc. I just like knowing that expensive server software licenses can be moved to new hosts, etc.)
EvanAnderson 6y ago
You'll have to work with a reseller. It's a bit of a pain, but it's not too bad. I've used Dell and CDW in the past. The minimum volume license buy is 5 licenses. Any good reseller will sell you 1 copy of LTSC and 4 of the cheapest SKU in the catalog (usually $5-10 / ea) to get your volume license contract started. After that you can purchase piecemeal for 2 years before you need to fulfill the minimum purchase again. The licenses themselves are perpetual. I don't like it, but it's not too hard to do either. The trick is finding a reseller who will leave you alone after the purchase (no sales calls, etc).

Every time I hear about Windows 10 LTSC I look for a place to buy a key or download the ISO from Microsoft and I can’t find it. It seems like they don’t want to sell it.

g_p 6y ago

It's only available through their volume license scheme. And therefore people will continue to use regular versions and suffer from these issues. Microsoft seems to have forgotten that small businesses (who don't want to deal with volume licenses) run Windows... They get Windows when they buy new computers.

wayoutthere 6y ago
That’s because it’s a product that’s designed for developers to sell alongside the product it empowers. You shouldn’t need to buy a volume license unless you’re building, say, CNC machines. That a product developer sold you a product that needs to be automatically rebooted isn’t really Microsoft’s fault.
- g_p 6y ago
  Indeed, although there's a huge amount of the economy built upon small businesses building things and selling them to other small businesses, neither of which wants to deal with a subscription-based volume license deal. The factory I know using CNC machines bought them many moons ago, for a fixed payment (the old fashioned way), from a small business. They don't have any kind of subscription, they are fully offline, and they won't go anywhere near any kind of network. I don't really see recent Microsoft product lines delivering what's required in these scenarios. Arguably this is more of a use-case for Windows Embedded, but that has its own licensing challenges. Ultimately the small system integrators will end up shipping with Ubuntu if Microsoft makes it too hard to build products around the Windows ecosystem, as it will save them time, money, effort and support costs.
Shared404 6y ago
I've heard you can get them from resellers individually, but haven't tried personally.
- foepys 6y ago
  Is that legal? I know that MS went after a volume license reseller in Germany not too long ago.
EvanAnderson 6y ago
I have small business customers w/ < 10 PCs who use Microsoft volume licensing. I almost always recommend Customers purchase volume license Windows Server to allow the software to be re-assigned to new hardware-- particularly when virtualization is in play. It's not burdensome or expensive to deal with. (I'm not a reseller, so it affords no advantage for me-- kickbacks, etc. I just like knowing that expensive server software licenses can be moved to new hosts, etc.)

EvanAnderson 6y ago

You'll have to work with a reseller. It's a bit of a pain, but it's not too bad. I've used Dell and CDW in the past. The minimum volume license buy is 5 licenses. Any good reseller will sell you 1 copy of LTSC and 4 of the cheapest SKU in the catalog (usually $5-10 / ea) to get your volume license contract started. After that you can purchase piecemeal for 2 years before you need to fulfill the minimum purchase again. The licenses themselves are perpetual. I don't like it, but it's not too hard to do either. The trick is finding a reseller who will leave you alone after the purchase (no sales calls, etc).