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For info only: Windows 10 Updates After End-Of-Life
No need to turn to piracy when there are free official ways to do the same.
This is the most convenient way I had access to to share the available options for info. I'd love a similar list of official methods.
Here.
- The ESU license will be associated with the Microsoft account used to enroll. You may be prompted to sign in with a Microsoft account if you typically sign into Windows with a local account.
Hahaha fuck you microsoft.
You can enroll in ESU in one of the following three ways: At no additional cost if you are syncing your PC Settings. Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. One-time purchase of $30 USD or local currency equivalent plus applicable tax.
Yep. I will choose the masgrave option thank you.
That only covers ESU, not the LTSC options. :/
True, but I assume most people here wouldn't need to be on an Enterprise version of Windows, unless it's for work.
The main benefit is the long-term support. If you buy a volume (or can find a vendor willing to sell you a single) license for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC, you have security updates until 2032. There's nuance to it, and some programs might not support Windows 10 for the full length of that extended support period, but for the last holdouts it's better than nothing.
I tried Bazzite for the first time last weekend. I was shook at how far Linux gaming has come. Some of the games I play actually saw performance increases.
I don't see any reason to return to Windows for gaming, except maybe a sandboxed VM for the very rare game that requires kernel-level anti cheat.
ha kernel level anticheat now detects and blocks vms without a lot of work to hide it.
i'm determined to install windows on a spare hdd and cheat the hell out of fortnite.
Would a sandboxed VM work for league of legends? Its the one game I occasionally play with friends that I haven't been able to since moving to Linux. Not that I miss it much, just don't want to be left out 🥺
They use a kernel level anticheat don't they? If so, no cigar I am afraid.
Welcome to the family! I can't remember the last time I needed windows for a game!
I've got Mint as my main OS for everything except Windows, which I use solely for gaming. Would you say it's worth just replacing windows with Bazzite? I pirate some games and only a portion of my games are on Steam, so I always thought it might not be the best idea to leave windows behind altogether. Also I'm basically a novice with command lines and such (hence why I'm using Mint)
I use Mint as well. Haven't had any major problems using it for gaming.
Steam and Lutris pretty much has me covered.
You’d probably be fine using mint.
Like, if you’re using an Nvidia graphics card you’d want to use mint’s built in driver manger GUI (don’t need to even use the command line) to make sure you have the best driver. If you have AMD graphics (ether iGPU or dedicated GPU) you don’t even have to do that. The main thing that Bazzite does is have the right Nvidia graphics drivers out of the box.
The main difference between the two is the package manager, the thing that downloads programs and makes sure they have all the dependencies they need to run. Bazzite is fedora derived so it uses DNF instead of the Debian derived APT for package management. Frankly the differences between the two are not really material.
Ether way, Lutris will get windows versions of games running as well as steam does, and any game can be added to Lutris regardless of how you got it, if not from one of the major store fronts you just have point Lutris to the files.
I use mint for gaming and it works just fine. Granted my computer isn't particularly new, and I have an AMD GPU (nvidia is more finicky and some distros support it better than others out of the box)
I believe the final frontier for Linux gaming - apart from some niche cases - is multiplayer games with kernel-level anticheat. They are literally impossible to play on Linux, so if you're into one of those then don't bother.
The other edge case is modding. A lot of mods work just fine on Linux, but some just don't and some - like those relying on Mod Managers and the like - might require more fiddling and specific tinkering. If you do a lot of modding it's probably easier to stick to Windows as you know everything just works.
Otherwise you should be good to try.
Not to mention general support from software companies. I recently endeavoured to try Bazzite only to find out I can't install my VPN's client on it because there's not a flatpak version. Given a handful of other programs I specifically like and would need to find workarounds or alternatives to, I won't be jumping over anytime soon.
I can't make any recommendations yet, I'm still very early in my own evaluation. I can say with Bazzite, most functionality seems available by UI. They also include tooling to manage manually installed games, as well as other platforms such as GOG, etc.
I'll be really curious to see the next few months of the Steam Hardware Surveys to see if Linux usage goes up a bit. Can we hit 3% this year? September already ended at 2.68% (+0.04%)
I hear if we hit 3%, we automatically get ballot access in the next election.
would be awesome, but the Steam Hardware Survey also reflects that the majority of users just want to use the thing that simply works. Low-end components and 1080p have dominated those charts for years and years now. For that 97% of users stuck on Windows, you can be sure that almost all of them will just click "upgrade to 11" and be done with it. Sounds like 2/3 of them are already there, the remaining 1/3 are probably waiting til the last minute, or they are in Europe and they get to wait an extra year.
or they are in Europe and they get to wait an extra year.
This is being offered in the USA, too, you know. You have to submit to logging in with a Microsoft account and allowing them to back up your system preferences to the cloud.
Secondly, the onerous TPM 2.0 requirement is actually what is going to stop a lot of those low-end computers from upgrading. I recently was helping a friend with what seemed like a relatively recent machine and I was shocked to find it still has a BIOS and not a UEFI and I had to redo my installation disk to support MBR partitioning instead of GPT partitioning. People like that will be SOL and simply won't be able to upgrade, even if they want to.
This is being offered in the USA, too, you know. You have to submit to logging in with a Microsoft account and allowing them to back up your system preferences to the cloud.
Source? My understanding has been that the EU is forcing Microsoft to allow this option, but only if EU users submit to the requirements you mentioned. I have not heard about this being extended to US users. I was able to sub to Extended Security Updates, but I have been assuming this is because my VPN shows me in Europe.
EDIT: Okay I pulled it up myself. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/extended-security-updates Sure enough, they are allowing it for everyone. I guess I already had the syncing set up? I've always just used Win10 with an account and manually turned off all of the OneDrive stuff, I guess Windows has still been backing up settings without my knowledge?
but I have been assuming this is because my VPN shows me in Europe.
Glad you found the info yourself, but your version of Windows will still register as a US version. Being behind a VPN doesn't change your OS fingerprints, especially since a VPN is layered on top of your OS, and MS essentially has direct access to your OS underneath that VPN layer. Unless you're running your VPN on your router and all your traffic in and out of your router is pushed through the VPN, then it might make a bit of a difference.
As I have been saying for a year now, I foresee a Windows 7 situation all over again that despite Microsoft's best efforts to bully people into upgrading, that eventually they will continue offering updates for Windows 10 that they didn't want to have to offer simply because so many business machines will still be running it to support other legacy software.
If a third of Steam users are still using it, you can bet that it's a similar number of small businesses without the resources to upgrade, especially when the real economy is in a free-fall.
we can only hope. If the AI bubble doesn't pop before this time next year (and that's a big if), I think Microsoft will be too invested in AI to not keep pushing everyone into their most AI-saturated OS. If the bubble does pop, then maayyyybeee they will extend support for 10. But even then, only maybe.
They can pry it from my cold dead SSD.
windows11 is literal dogshit
Wouldn't that get into all the circuitry of my hard drive? Also, kudos to Microsoft for figuring out how to "literally" build an operating system out of poop. That's amazing...
10 too tbh
If you want to keep using Windows 10, check out 0patch! They're supporting security updates past EOL. It's like €24/year and you can get a 1 month trial for free.
For another five years
They have an interesting concept. I would have liked more info on wood behind it, to assess expertise, and how they identify issues to patch. Only public CVE? Are those always fixable with micro patches?
They've also mentioned elsewhere that they'll continue support as long as there's enough of a subscriber base to justify it. If enough people are using it, that 5 years could be much longer. They offer security patches for Windows 7 too.
I'm not really sure what their process is. I'm just glad to be able to keep my current work flow without having to worry about fully losing security updates.