Long Term Servicing Brand (LTSB)

What is LTSB?

Long Term Servicing Brand (LTSB) is a specialised edition of Windows 10 Enterprise. It is designed to run mission-critical systems and ensure reliable and secure use of Windows 10. The operating system is intended for long-term use and was designed for mission-critical environments such as finance, government and healthcare. The LTSB operating system is intended for devices that need to keep running for a long period of time while not requiring updates.  

LTSB: support

Windows 10 LTSB will be supported for 10 years. The first 5 years consist of mainstream support and then there are 5 more years of extended support. Mainstream support consists of performance, scalability, functional and security updates, while extended support consists of security updates only. 

LTSB: Features

While Windows 10 Enterprise receives feature updates, Windows 10 LTSB receives fewer. Windows 10 LTSB receives feature updates every 2-3 years, while Windows 10 Enterprise receives 2 feature updates every year. This is because environments using Windows 10 LTSB need to run their operating system always and without changes to ensure consistent application performance and compatibility.  

LTSB: Security

Unlike LTSB's feature updates, Windows 10 LTSB does receive the same security updates as Windows 10 Enterprise. As for the Enterprise version, Windows 10 LTSB receives monthly security downloads that can be downloaded by Windows 10 LTSB users. Another option to receive security updates is to use Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). This is a console that helps manage and deploy security updates to devices running LTSB.

LTSB: compatibility

Many applications that are compatible with Windows 10 Enterprise are also compatible with Windows 10 LTSB. But because Windows 10 LTSB does not receive feature updates, some applications are not compatible.