Feedback Suggestions for moving to old windows OS?

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

hello I'm pretty much at the point of my life where I'm sorta just done with W11, the laptop running it is an HP laptop i got in Christmas of 2022, and recently I've started to notice why W11 gets the flack it does especially from speaking from a casual, I was wondering if there was any ways i could possibly downgrade to something like W7 and if not if there are any laptops or something out there that are worth getting, heck if you even have any suggestions of how to comfortably move over to a VM that works as well, the main reason i am looking to downgrade besides the obvious issues with W11 is primarily out of missing older OS models and i feel like they were less obnoxious to use.

 

[Marc_LFD]

I really like Windows 10 LTSC (Build 1809) and it's probably my final Windows OS as it has extended support until 2028. Then, move to Linux (which I've already done for an old laptop that I have and installed Linux Mint).

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

I really like Windows 10 LTSC (Build 1809) and it's probably my final Windows OS as it has extended support until 2028. Then, move to Linux (which I've already done for an old laptop that I have and installed Linux Mint).

im overall just not interested in linux, i continue to hear divisive opinions about it which made me lose interest entirely hence why i asked for something like W7 for more familiar territory without all the bloat modern OS' have

 

[Marc_LFD]

im overall just not interested in linux, i continue to hear divisive opinions about it which made me lose interest entirely hence why i asked for something like W7 for more familiar territory without all the bloat modern OS' have

Just the other day the OS was refusing to open my external HDD and I had to edit a line for it to become readable... Most people won't want to bother with stuff like this.



For family members I'll likely update them to Windows 11 LTSC or Windows 11 English (World) to try and avoid bloatware.

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

Just the other day the OS was refusing to open my external HDD and I had to edit a line for it to become readable... Most people won't want to bother with stuff like this.



For family members I'll likely update them to Windows 11 LTSC or Windows 11 English (World) to try and avoid bloatware.

yeah that's one of the reasons i don't want to use linux as i can see why it's used by the vast majority as typically people who do are pretty well versed in just computer stuff in general, i kinda am but i wouldnt call myself an expert.

would you know how to update to W11 LTSC? that would probably be really helpful, i know you can also make W11 look like the older glass OS like W7 & Vista but i could never get farther than changing start and taskbar i'd like to do more with that concept but unsure how with like changing the look of the file explorer.

 

[Marc_LFD]

yeah that's one of the reasons i don't want to use linux as i can see why it's used by the vast majority as typically people who do are pretty well versed in just computer stuff in general, i kinda am but i wouldnt call myself an expert.

would you know how to update to W11 LTSC? that would probably be really helpful, i know you can also make W11 look like the older glass OS like W7 & Vista but i could never get farther than changing start and taskbar i'd like to do more with that concept but unsure how with like changing the look of the file explorer.

For 11 LTSC you'd do a fresh install and go from there.

Give it a try if you want: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc-eval

 

[chrisrlink]

personally for older games I use vmware player or pcem (more accurate) and a copy of windows Me/98se vmp needs some tweaks to get video to work correctly/patch for newer CPU's that and sheepshaver for mac OS 9 remember using older windows on a physical machine is a very bad idea (especially with network/internet access)

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

personally for older games I use vmware player or pcem (more accurate) and a copy of windows Me/98se vmp needs some tweaks to get video to work correctly/patch for newer CPU's that and sheepshaver for mac OS 9 remember using older windows on a physical machine is a very bad idea (especially with network/internet access)

you have a good point as while i do own a router that supports older connections i doubt ill be able to get it to work, tho even if i did slow netowork speeds would be something that's more of an expectation rather than something to doubt will be a thing, on the flipside i have a VM setup for WXP and Vista that runs through Oracle box.

is VMware like a different type of virtual machine program? if so, would you recommend it over oracle box?

 

[chrisrlink]

player is the free to use version it's better than vbox imo cause you're not limited to 128 vram/256 with 3d accel iirc you can have up to 8GB vram though vmwares video driver is barebones, but with 9x it shouldn't be an issue since most computers cgraphics cards in the 90's were 128-256mb max as i said pcem is more accurate (so accurate it takes 60mins to finish the second stage installation of 98se i recoomend the oem iso because it's self boot (other versions needed a bppt floppy to boot the CD

Post automatically merged: May 14, 2025

get the techspot vmware player version older but otherwise you need to register on broadcoms site (they bought out vmware 1/2 a year ago

 

[Plazorn]

Since you don’t want to try Linux, then I’m with @chrisrlink, the windows LTSC versions typically have less bloat. I’m personally a fan of the Chris Titus Tech Windows Utility as well, which removes bloat from a regular windows installation. The utility makes the ram usage go from 3.5 to 2.5 gb for me, so I’d highly recommend it if you want an easier route than changing your operating system.

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

Since you don’t want to try Linux, then I’m with @chrisrlink, the windows LTSC versions typically have less bloat. I’m personally a fan of the Chris Titus Tech Windows Utility as well, which removes bloat from a regular windows installation. The utility makes the ram usage go from 3.5 to 2.5 gb for me, so I’d highly recommend it if you want an easier route than changing your operating system.

ive got the CTTWU open and uhhh im unsure of what to do it looks like alot

 

[Plazorn]

ive got the CTTWU open and uhhh im unsure of what to do it looks like alot

Under tweaks select “standard,” “run selected tweaks” and wait for it to finish. You can read the documentation: https://winutil.christitus.com/userguide/tweaks/

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

Under tweaks select “standard,” “run selected tweaks” and wait for it to finish. You can read the documentation: https://winutil.christitus.com/userguide/tweaks/

thank you so much!

 

[bonkmaykr]

If computer literacy is an obstacle for you then it is highly inadvisable to stick with Windows.

Older Windows versions will require an increasing number of constant workarounds and safety precautions to use, and a larger and larger number of software will start losing support for it's outdated APIs and suffer from linker errors.

Windows 11 will only get more unstable and fucked up and you'll only put in more and more effort trying to make it remotely tolerable.

Linux is literally the only option long-term and you're just going to have to get used to the change, sorry but that's the world we live in. Microsoft is to blame for all of it, they snuffed out all of the competition and only one competitor survived hard enough to remain viable decades layer.

You should start dipping your toes in now so that when Windows becomes completely unusable you are able to make a comfortable transition and not the jarring one people always complain about.

 

[Marc_LFD]

If computer literacy is an obstacle for you then it is highly inadvisable to stick with Windows.

Older Windows versions will require an increasing number of constant workarounds and safety precautions to use, and a larger and larger number of software will start losing support for it's outdated APIs and suffer from linker errors.

Windows 11 will only get more unstable and fucked up and you'll only put in more and more effort trying to make it remotely tolerable.

Linux is literally the only option long-term and you're just going to have to get used to the change, sorry but that's the world we live in. Microsoft is to blame for all of it, they snuffed out all of the competition and only one competitor survived hard enough to remain viable decades layer.

You should start dipping your toes in now so that when Windows becomes completely unusable you are able to make a comfortable transition and not the jarring one people always complain about.

Linux Mint is very newbie-friendly for Windows users I thought I'd switch from Linux Mint to a different Linux distro, but I'm very happy with it.

However, recently I came across a HDD issue which it wouldn't load up unless I made a change in booting up.



Despite it's read-only, it works.

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

You should start dipping your toes in now so that when Windows becomes completely unusable you are able to make a comfortable transition and not the jarring one people always complain about.

i honestly prefer not to as i deliberately left linux out of the original post and specified that I'd rather stick with windows in some capacity for the sake of familiarity, it's solely just my preference. Linux isn't has never been really for me and i'm not so sure why that's so hard to understand, though while i am a bit disappointed that using an older windows OS isn't as ideal in modern day as I'd like it to be due to already established reasons in this thread, I'm at this rate am sticking with the suggestions
@Plazorn and @chrisrlink gave because while i dislike W11, i genuinely cannot be bothered to throw myself into unfamiliar territory i know absolutely nothing about, nor have any interest in.

 

[SylverReZ]

For 11 LTSC you'd do a fresh install and go from there.

Give it a try if you want: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc-eval

I'd also suggest debloating Windows 11 by using Chris Titus Tech's WinUtil which is what I often use for setting up new installs. https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil

 

[codezer0]

I'm not a fan of Linux either, for different reasons. Back in my university days, it did this crap where if you didn't "safely eject" any external storage, it wiped the entire drive without exceptions.

More recently, my ongoing gripe with Linux is it's absolute refusal to support any audio except the garbage realtek onboard. I've a number of Creative Audigy and X-Fi sound cards, because my use case warrants the use of such; no onboard ever, provides satisfactory audio for gaming.

Every Linux I've tried fails completely at it.

Some, will flat out refuse to acknowledge their presence.

Others, might detect it, but refuse to output sound to it.

The best case so far has been one that detects it and even gives a DOS style control panel to interface with it, like it would actually work. And guess what? I can't get any sound from it to save my literal life. For all the talk about such presumed superiority, how the hell is it this backwards about audio? It's a load of

Even Windows 11 24H2, supports my sound cards, as tested with the (final) Daniel K drivers.

 

[yankii]

IDK why everyone says Linux makes old hardware usable - it does NOT. I tried Ubuntu a while ago and it runs significantly worse than OSX Mavericks, which I'm using now.

 

[Taleweaver]

i honestly prefer not to as i deliberately left linux out of the original post and specified that I'd rather stick with windows in some capacity for the sake of familiarity, it's solely just my preference. Linux isn't has never been really for me and i'm not so sure why that's so hard to understand, though while i am a bit disappointed that using an older windows OS isn't as ideal in modern day as I'd like it to be due to already established reasons in this thread, I'm at this rate am sticking with the suggestions
@Plazorn and @chrisrlink gave because while i dislike W11, i genuinely cannot be bothered to throw myself into unfamiliar territory i know absolutely nothing about, nor have any interest in.

I get your reasoning, but in the long run it's honestly not a bad idea to familiarize yourself a little bit.
Linux now isn't what it was ten or twenty years ago, and unlike Windows it got better.
But okay... It's not something for now. But would it be an idea to create a bootable USB drive with Rufus and Linux mint cinnamon on it? You can boot from it, familiarize yourself with it and check if your hardware works properly. At that point it hasn't changed a bit on your hard drive, so the worst that could happen is lose a few spare hours.