What is your preferred release version of Windows 10?

[sunryze]

Lets see what you guys prefer. I prefer 1607 and 1903.

[Dave-H]

I've never found any reason not to use the latest released version.
I do worry that one day I will not be allowed to update any further as my old hardware is deemed to be incompatible, but it's not happened yet!

[EdSon]

Highly dependent on hardware compatibility. For example my Lenovo Y50-70 is not 100% compatible with Lastest Version of Win10 (bugs with audio control, reorder desktop icons, etc.). Win10 1607 (Aniversary) yes is compatible and I do not have those problems

 

I prefer Win8.0 but now I am testing Win10 LTSB 2016 (I managed to install the modern calculator XD). Soon I will test the Win10 LTSB 2015 ...

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Reorder desktop icons bug with Win10 versions greater than 1607: 

[bookie32]

Interesting question.....

I really can't decide on a version because I genuinely think Windows 10 as being the biggest load of crap that we have had to put up with....

XP and Windows 7 were the closest that Microsoft have got to being good....but we all have different opinions on that and I respect all opinions....

Sorry, could not bring myself to picking a version....

 

bookie32

[cc333]

If I may play devil's advocate for a moment:  out of fairness to Windows 10, it has gotten a bit better than the RTM release.

And I'd also like to point out that XP wasn't always the "gleaming pinnacle of perfection" that many see it as nowadays;  In fact, back in 2003-2004, I recall it was actively despised, and often criticized as being slower than the versions it replaced, namely 2000 and 98 SE (which was still pretty much 100% usable back then).  It did improve with time, however, and once SP2 came out and multi core PCs became more commonplace, XP matured quite nicely.  It would be nice if 10 would follow the same progression and actually become a mature, decent product, but so far, it hasn't....

Be that as it may, even after almost six years, I still don't like 10, and I won't use it (I actually did try for awhile, but it broke on me, and rather than going through the effort to reinstall, I decided to wipe it and install Linux in its place).  Fortunately, because my primary is Mac OS,  I don't really have a need for everything to work 100% on any older Windows, thus having the luxury to tinker with and hack up any Windows of my choosing ad infinitum .

c

[erpdude8]

any LTSB/LTSC version for me since most of my old PCs were not tested for Win10 compatibility but are able to run any of the LTSB/C releases without problems

plus LTSB 2015/2016 & LTSC 2019 get up to ten years of support

Edited March 22, 2021 by erpdude8

[legacyfan]

my favorite version of windows 10 is 1709 because its alot faster on my hardware than other build plus it has everything I want in windows 10

Edited December 3, 2022 by legacyfan

[FantasyAcquiesce]

Whichever builds aren't from 2015-2017. Windows 10 literally broke almost a dozen times for me on the PC it was included on. When I used it on my Thinkpad R60 at one point, it broke one day with no way to repair itself. Didn't make a difference installing on a Dell Latitude e4310 compared to Windows 7, except java crashed for no reason using Windows 10.

The later versions are far more stable (just like Windows Vista).

[Jody Thornton]

I'm now examining my post-Windows 8 options next year.  LTSC 2019 seems to be the most rpomising one with support until the end of the decade.

Now the question:  How to get it?

[Tripredacus]

I can't speak for anyone else as to how they are acquiring it, but IOT Enteprise in the LTSB/LTSC branches is not a retail OS. There are two ways to acquire it:

1. Be an Embedded Channel Partner/IoT Distributor

2. Buy a computer with the OS already installed

There are demo/trial versions that can be acquired. If you buy an appliance with the OS installed, you do not get installation media, but certain companies may provide recovery media depending on volume. So far in my experience, no one has bothered to request recovery media for any appliances with an Embedded SKU since XPe was still available. Nowadays clients are perfectly fine with hotswap warranties.

Official info here but note that ways to acquire this OS outside of these methods cannot be discussed here.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/iot-enterprise/commercialization/licensing

[AMDFan4Life]

I love how literally no one voted 2004 or 20H2. Personally I like LTSC 2019 (1809) as it is the last "smooth" version of Windows 10 while also having a semi-modern look (poor take I know)

[UCyborg]

1809 was the first I used seriously and didn't seem to have anything that bothers me much. I went to 20H2 on home desktop just out-of-curiosity and left it at that version since I didn't find very compelling reason to bother going back to 1809, though Explorer got weirder when combined with QTTabBar - I think the glitch started with 1903 already if I remember correctly when you have one or more regular folders opened and you try to open the Control Panel, new window with Control Panel opens which also forces the other window with folders to close (or it forces those tabs to close on existing window).

bigmuscle's Aero Glass is fully functional on 1809, but I can live with solid appearance, one machine runs 32-bit 1809 on which AG also doesn't run since it's 64-bit only. Not opening Control Panel every day, so whatever on that part I guess.

I noticed 20H2 shows more accurate refresh rates in screen settings and DWM is supposed to handle multiple screens that aren't on the same refresh rate better (smoothness), I'm not sure from messing around if it's noticeable here, have over a decade old screens, the bigger one runs at TV refresh rate, so 59 point something at native resolution while the small one can do 75 Hz at native resolution, but I prefer to keep them both at 59/60 for consistency.

Still on 1809 version on 2 out of 3 machines.

[legacyfan]

1709 was my favorite windows 10 version it had all the stuff I needed plus better gaming performence compaired to newer windows 10 versions it also was the last version of windows 10 that was fast on the hardware I had at the time and could get better fps than any other release of I had to go back to windows 10 I would definitely go with 1709 for sure

[Tommy]

I liked Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 but it seemed to have an interesting bug (at least for me), where an "app would crash" and revert my chosen default program to something else. I've never personally seen an actual crash happen and many times it would just pop up randomly as a breadcrumb on the lower right of the screen, but I've never found any other LTSB/C versions do this. Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 feels too retail to me to really enjoy it. I've never really looked at it under the hood very much but just the way it felt and ran, it felt more like a regular Windows 10 version minus the store.

I'm with Trip on the IoT versions as well. Even the activation method is different. Regular LTSC uses KMS where LTSC IoT uses MAK. Two totally different methods.

[Tripredacus]

25 minutes ago, Tommy said:

I'm with Trip on the IoT versions as well. Even the activation method is different. Regular LTSC uses KMS where LTSC IoT uses MAK. Two totally different methods.

This is not true across the board, but may well be true for versions available under Retail or Enterprise subscriptions. There exist versions that use online activation, the same as a Retail Windows OS.