We are doing exactly what Coreland stated. Our Win 10 clients are all on 1511 CBB currently but we will not upgrade them to 1607 due to apps and defaults being reset. All of our 1511 clients will be upgraded to the Creators Update when it is released to CBB. When we do deploy the Creators Update to clients, we will most likely make it required but give users a few weeks to a month for a deadline to install it themselves.
One of the big things we are looking at is everything else that we have to upgrade prior to doing a feature upgrade to Windows. SCCM, AD, and Anti-virus software to name the more important ones. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Phillips, Coreland Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 12:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [mssms] RE: Off Topic: Windows 10 LTSB or CBB Sol: I think you've started on the track Microsoft recommends and changing horses mid-stream may not net you anything. Organizationally, we supply both LTSB/CBB images. For Surface(tm) Devices, CBB with the Windows Store Enabled is a must (we rip out the fluff apps though). For research boxes or to avoid an unnecessary Dual Boot situation, 1607 CBB also fits our bill. That being said, the overwhelming majority of Windows 10 boxes we have are on 1507 LTSB. MS does not have the upgrade process down for moving to newer CBB versions what with all the crap apps returning, default programs being reset, etc... Users and technicians don't like it and all it does is take the burden from MS developers to get the in place upgrade operation right and place it on my colleagues and others to script around it. Supposedly the Creator's Update will address this, I think. Anyway, the nice thing is, once I feel MS has everything down pat (really hoping Creator's Update CBB) I can uplift from the LTSB track to the CBB track and get into a more normal groove. This is just how we approached things. In terms of user feedback, we received much better feedback around LTSB when we did trial deployments. As a note, any reason to go 1511 to 1607 as opposed to waiting for Creator's Update to go CBB then going 1511 to that? In terms of deployment strategy and downtime on our CBB boxes, we make the update 'Available' via SCCM so folks can run it at their leisure. We'll see what happens if we have any hold outs in May, but likely we'll just make it required, set a deadline, and move on. Thanks, Coreland Campbell Phillips Sr. Endpoint Administrator - Enterprise Services From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kamerman, Sol Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 9:05 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [mssms] Off Topic: Windows 10 LTSB or CBB All: I have been doing a lot of reading over the last several weeks and I still haven't come to a conclusion on which direction I want to go in regards to which Windows 10 version I should install in the coming months. I currently have 1800 laptops on 1511 CBB, and will be upgrading these laptops to 1607 CBB over the next few weeks. This is challenging in it of itself because the update takes about an hour or more and is extremely disruptive to our end-users. I am fighting with the option to move to Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB because all of the articles I have read about this particular version and how it's designed for mission critical systems i.e. ATM's, or factory type systems. The advantage I see is that I don't have to worry about upgrading these systems every 12 to 18 months and the disruption to the user is minimal. We have a total of 3,500 systems consisting or laptops and desktops. Our laptop hardware gets changed out every two years to a new model, and our desktops models are every 3 and may possibly change to 2 years. Here are some questions I have: Since we have a more aggressive hardware cycle is it worth going to LTSB or just stay with CBB? How are other admins handling the cycle change when they are dealing with many systems that will need be updated? Over 3,500 and up to 100K depending on the size of your company i.e. disrupting users, on-prem / off-prem? If we don't care for using the app store or having the Edge browser installed, are there any other drawbacks from using LTSB? Is Microsoft really going to stop creating security updates for 1511 when it goes end of life? Are you concerned about this if your company isn't ready to go to 1607 and you need stay on 1511 past its life cycle? Have you made the decision to go to LTSB and not look back? Any other info you can provide is appreciated. Thanks, Sol
