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The original was posted on /r/sysadmin by /u/Impossible_Ad4774 on 2024-01-22 12:22:57+00:00.
Hey fellow sysadmins! ๐ We're gearing up to migrate our systems from Windows 10 LTSC to Windows 11 Pro, and I'm seeking some advice from the community. Here's our current setup:We deploy a couple of central template Windows 10 LTSC images (Sysprep) to machines/VMs using MAK keys. For the sake of simplicity, assume we don't have any existing Windows licenses for our 20-40 devices (a mix of PCs and VMs). In reality, we have Windows 10 enterprise per-device licences but only up to 2016 LTSB.Our migration goals:
- We have imaging rights (Sysprep).
- Ensure continued access to Windows 11 through general availability channels for as long as it's supported.
- Pay only a one-off fee (eliminating Windows 11 Enterprise).
- Access to the VLSC portal for downloading and using 'clean' Windows 11 images for different versions (21H2, 22H2, 23H2, etc.).
- Require per-device licenses (ruling out Windows 11 Enterprise).
- Not interested in cloud deployment solutions like Smartdeploy, etc. It must be on-premise.
The confusion arises from the fact that Windows 11 is only sold as an upgrade license, meaning we need a base qualifying license. One vendor suggested that we can only upgrade by installing Windows 10 and then upgrading to Windows 11 via Windows Update. This feels inefficient to us, but maybe we're missing something.So, I'm reaching out to the community to hear your experiences and suggestions. How have you tackled similar migrations in your environments? Are we approaching this the right way, or is there a more efficient method that we're overlooking?Thanks in advance for your insights!