Windows 11’s long-term servicing option — initially identified in Windows 10 as the Long-Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) — is now branded Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) and remains an important pillar for enterprises in specific industries.
What is Windows 11 LTSC?
LTSC is a specialized edition of Windows 11 Enterprise built for devices that require maximum stability. For the most part, Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC looks and runs like other Windows 11 editions. What’s different is the frequency with which new features are delivered.
The main Windows 11 servicing model, known as the General Availability Channel (GAC), pushes major feature upgrades to customers once a year, with additional feature enhancements often included the Windows “quality updates” issued each month. Windows Enterprise LTSC releases, on the other hand, are issued every two to three years and remain functionally static throughout their lifespan.
That means fewer changes during a set timeline, a less-involved upgrade effort, and fewer disruptions, as well as fewer possibilities for applications breaking because of a modification of the OS.
LTSC is designed for use in highly regulated or restricted environments where feature updates can be cumbersome or disruptive. This can include specialized devices that control medical equipment, ATM machines, or point of sale (POS) systems. Because they are intended for targeted tasks, these devices don’t require feature updates as frequently as other enterprise devices. With LTSC, the goal is to keep devices as stable and secure as possible rather than disrupt their function with frequent interface changes.
It’s important to note that LTSC isn’t intended for widespread deployment across an enterprise’s general-purpose devices (typically understood as those installed with Microsoft Office).
What versions of Windows 11 LTSC are available?
Microsoft offers two versions of LTSC aimed at different types of devices:
- Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024: This version is intended for specialized enterprise PCs and has a five-year lifecycle (mainstream support ends October 9, 2029).
- Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024: This version is intended for special-purpose, fixed-function devices such as ATMs, MRI machines, manufacturing controllers, POS systems and kiosks. It has a 10-year lifecycle (mainstream support ends October 9, 2029; extended support ends October 10, 2034).
How often do Windows 11 LTSC updates occur?
While this is simple question, it requires a nuanced answer.
- Windows 11 LTSC does receive the usual monthly quality and security updates, which customers can delay.
- The annual feature upgrades delivered to customers in the General Availability Channel are not offered to LTSC systems.
- Microsoft upgrades the LTSC “build” every two to three years. Those upgrades, however, are optional. Enterprises can choose to install them as in-place upgrades or skip them altogether based on their business requirements.
- LTSC releases support the processors and chipsets in use at the time of release. When new CPU generations are rolled out, Microsoft provides support in future LTSC releases, which customers can self-deploy.
Past LTSB/LTSC releases
LTSB was first rolled out with Windows 10 in July 2015 and has had four subsequent releases in both standard and IoT versions. The LTSC rebranding was introduced in late 2018 with the release of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019.
- Windows 10 LTSB 2015 / Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSB 2015 (released 7/29/2015)
- Windows 10 LTSB 2016 / Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016 (released 8/2/2016)
- Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 / Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 / Windows 10 IoT Core LTSC (released 11/13/2018)
- Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 / Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 (released 11/16/2021)
- Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024 / Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 (released 10/01/2024)
A shrinking lifecycle
Windows Enterprise LTSC follows Microsoft’s Fixed Lifecycle Policy, and as with other Windows versions, Microsoft has reduced its support period over time. Earlier versions of LTSB/LTSC had a 10-year lifecycle: five years of mainstream support and up to five years of extended support. Thus, the original Windows 10 LTSB 2015 release remained under extended support until October 14, 2025.
Starting with Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021, however, Microsoft switched to a five-year lifecycle for the standard version of LTSC. The lifecycle page for Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024, for example, shows five years of mainstream support ending on October 9, 2029, with no mention of extended support.
That said, the IoT Enterprise LTSC releases have retained the traditional 10-year lifecycle, with extended support for Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2024 set to expire on October 10, 2034.
What’s new in the current Windows 11 LTSC?
Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024 was first made available on October 1, 2024, three years after the official rollout of Windows 11. It includes enhanced security protections, control capabilities, and device and app management cumulatively introduced through Windows 11 versions 21H2, 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2.
Built on the Windows 11 24H2 codebase, this release includes several features that were missing in previous long-term versions:
- Security: Microsoft Defender Antivirus, Microsoft Pluton, enhanced phishing protection, Credential Guard enabled by default, malicious and vulnerable driver blocking, personal data encryption, passkeys and passwordless capabilities, Windows Local Admin Password Solution (LAPS), and others.
- Management: Microsoft Intune mobile app management (MAM) and mobile device management (MDM), plus other admin controls, restrictions, policy settings, and customization.
- Sudo for Windows: Allows admins to run elevated commands directly from an unelevated console — a significant quality-of-life upgrade for developers.
- Connectivity: Native support for Wi-Fi 7 and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC).
- Removed: Internet Explorer is gone (replaced by Microsoft Edge), and Microsoft Publisher is no longer included.
For more details, see Microsoft’s What’s new in Windows 11 Enterprise LTSC 2024 page.
Why does Microsoft make LTSC available to customers?
Plainly put, it was introduced to stop to the criticism very early on about Windows 10’s accelerated development and release tempo.
Customers had become accustomed to upgrading Windows every three or more years, with the emphasis on more in the enterprise. The announcement that that would change to multiple releases each year — initially, three annually — was a shock.
Microsoft tried to soften the blow by offering a schedule very similar to the slower cadence familiar to IT: upgrades that appeared every three years or so, with little or no feature changes in between, and a servicing model that provided only security and bug fixes.
But Microsoft has repeatedly stressed over the years that most of any large organization’s PCs should be running Windows 11 Enterprise and serviced via the GAC, not the LTSC.
Which PCs should be running LTSC?
Here’s what Microsoft says about the devices it considers good candidates for LTSC:
“Specialized systems — such as PCs that control medical equipment, point-of-sale systems, and ATMs — often require a longer servicing option because of their purpose,” the company’s primary Windows-as-a-service documentation states. “These devices typically perform a single important task and and don’t need feature updates as frequently as other devices in the organization. It’s more important that these devices be kept as stable and secure as possible than up to date with user interface changes.”
As for which PCs shouldn’t run LTSC:
“As a general guideline, a PC with Microsoft Office installed is a general-purpose device, typically used by an information worker, and therefore it is better suited for the General Availability channel [than LTSC].”
What’s the most important thing to remember about LTSC?
Windows 11 LTSC remains a critical option for organizations requiring long-term stability and predictability over continuous improvement, particularly in regulated or fixed-purpose environments. But it comes with tradeoffs in flexibility, app support, and future hardware compatibility.
However, as Microsoft continues to prioritize its more lucrative cloud-first servicing models, organizations should deploy LTSC deliberately, plan for lifecycle constraints, and closely eye security developments.
This story was originally published in November 2018 and updated in February 2025.
