Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 (22H2) on 14th October 2025 under the General Availability channel for Home, Pro, Education and Enterprise alike. However, there is a less known channel called Long Term Service channel or LTSC that is available to enterprise customers.
LTSC - Long Term Service Channel
LTSC (formerly called LTSB – Long Term Service Branch for versions 1507 and 1607) offers 4 versions of Windows 10 to enterprise customers and enterprise IoT customers.
1809 (September 2018) ends mainstream support on 9th January 2024 but has extended support until 9th January 2029.
21H2 (Second half of 2021) ends mainstream support on 12th January 2027 with the IoT version ending on 13th January 2032.
How does LTSC differ?
LTSC does not include bundled apps nor the Windows Store, however it can be installed later via a command prompt.
This means there is no Cortana nor Microsoft Edge web browser installed.
LTSC is not updated as often as the general availability channel, so newer hardware and processors are less likely to be supported. 1809 for instance, didn’t support KabyLake processors from Intel (7th Generation).
There is also no support for Windows Surface devices.
How would I install LTSC?
You can download the DVD ISO files for Windows 10 LTSC and then use that as an upgrade to any Windows 10 Pro licenced computer, and you can use this for 29 days for evaluation purposes.
You will then need a licence for LTSC. The charity licence is around $65 and the business licence is around $280 unless you are installing this on 250 or more computers, then its around $250 per computer.
There are licences for older versions of Windows 10 LTSC out there but these will not work with the 21H2 version.
Conclusion
Is it worth upgrading from Windows 10 to LTSC? For enterprise and businesses that have software that doesn’t work on Windows 11, then LTSC is a good investment.
I don’t think it’s such a good investment if you are trying to extend the life of older hardware that cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 though, as the cost of a Windows 10 Pro licence and Windows 10 LTSC as well gets expensive.
