Windows 11, Optimized — the LTSC Way

This guide turns a normal Windows 11 install into an LTSC-clean, min-max system: no Store bloat, no noise, nothing you did not choose — while keeping everything that matters. Step by step, in plain English. The guide itself is open source.

Time: about 1 hour Skill: beginner-friendly Works on: any Windows 11 PC

Last updated: October 2026

Start here — pick your path

Clean installStarting fresh, or reinstalling anyway? Begin at Section 2 and do the whole path. Already installed — just clean itKeep your current system. Do Section 1 (safety), then jump to debloat in Section 3. Just the checklistKnow the steps already? Go straight to the final checklist in Section 8 and tick them off.

1. Start here — safety first

~5 min

Do these before you change anything. Five minutes here saves hours later.

  1. Back up your files. Copy anything you care about to an external drive or cloud storage. A clean install erases the drive.
  2. Create a restore point (if you are tuning an existing install): search Start for Create a restore point → Create. Do this again right before the debloat tools in Section 3.
  3. Keep the PC plugged in. Laptops stay on wall power for the whole setup — about 30–45 minutes.
  4. Have your Windows licence ready. This guide assumes you activate Windows with a licence you own. Activation tools are listed in Resources for reference; how you activate is your own responsibility.
The one rule of this guide: every step is reversible, and nothing here removes Windows Update, Bluetooth, or network services. A fast PC that breaks itself is not optimized.

2. Clean install path

~30–45 min

The lightest Windows is the one that starts light. This guide uses Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC — the long-term servicing edition with no bundled games, no Store app spam, and feature updates kept to a minimum. Pick the en-US IoT Enterprise LTSC ISO (see Resources for the download links page). The same steps work with a regular Windows 11 ISO; you will just debloat a little more in Section 3.

  1. Make a bootable USB from the ISO (8 GB or larger), boot from it, and install Windows onto your system drive.
  2. Stay connected to Wi-Fi or Ethernet during setup so Windows can pull basic hardware drivers.
  3. Skip the Microsoft account. On the sign-in screen press Shift + F10 (on some laptops Fn + Shift + F10) to open Command Prompt, then run: 
    start ms-cxh:localonly
    Continue with a local account.
  4. Run Windows Update once after the first boot and install everything it offers, then restart.
  5. Install your apps with Ninite. Tick the apps you need on one page, run one installer — no toolbars, no bundled extras, everything in one pass.
  6. Install the runtimes. Many apps and games need the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributables and legacy DirectX files. The offline all-in-one installer in Resources covers every version in one go, so nothing fails to launch later.
  7. Activate Windows with your licence key (Settings → System → Activation). The original guide uses MAS (Microsoft Activation Scripts, HWID option) — it is linked in Resources; use a licence you own and treat activation as your own responsibility.

3. Debloat & privacy

~20 min

Two tools, both on their safe preset. Create a restore point first — this is the section where it matters most.

Step 1 — Chris Titus winutil

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

irm https://christitus.com/win | iex
  1. In the Tweaks tab, select the Recommended preset — nothing beyond it.
  2. Run the tweaks, then restart.

Step 2 — O&O ShutUp10++

  1. Open O&O ShutUp10++ and let it create a restore point when it asks.
  2. Apply only the recommended settings (the green ones). The yellow and red items are where systems get broken — leave them alone.
  3. Restart again.

Step 3 — Remove what you will never open

Settings → Apps → Installed apps: uninstall the preinstalled games, trial apps, and anything you do not recognize as yours. If you are not sure what it is, leave it — disk space is cheap, a broken system is not.

Prefer a script? The Win11 MinMax Toolkit is this guide's companion on GitHub: it applies the safe, scriptable parts of this section (and Sections 4–5) in a few minutes — restore point first, everything reversible, nothing touches Windows Update or Defender.
Never debloat away: Windows Update, Windows Defender, Bluetooth, printing, or network services. Tools that offer to remove them are not making your PC faster; they are making it fragile.

4. Performance

~15 min

Power plan — read this before you switch

  • Desktops: enable the Ultimate Performance plan. Open PowerShell or Terminal and run: 
    powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61
    Then select Ultimate Performance in Settings → System → Power (or Control Panel → Power Options).
  • Laptops: stay on Balanced. Ultimate Performance on a laptop buys heat and fan noise, not speed. Balanced already boosts to full speed under load.

RAM at full speed — XMP / EXPO

  1. Restart and press Del or F2 during boot to enter the BIOS.
  2. Enable XMP (Intel) or EXPO (AMD) so your RAM runs at its rated speed instead of the slow default.
  3. Save and exit. If the PC ever fails to boot after this, clear the setting back to Auto — some RAM kits are not stable at their rated profile on every board.

DNS — a small, free speed-up

Set your network adapter's IPv4 DNS to a fast public resolver:

Primary:   1.1.1.1   (Cloudflare)
Secondary: 8.8.8.8   (Google)

Settings → Network & internet → your adapter → DNS server assignment → Manual. Pick one provider as primary; the other works fine as the backup.

Network adapter

Install the latest driver from the adapter or laptop maker's site — not a driver-booster app. Then leave the adapter's advanced settings on their defaults unless you have a specific problem to fix; the defaults are already the tuned ones.

Startup apps

Task Manager → Startup apps: disable anything you do not need the second you log in (game launchers, updaters, chat apps you open yourself). This is the single biggest day-to-day speed win on most PCs.

5. Browser

~5 min

Three flags make Chrome noticeably snappier. Open chrome://flags, set each one to Enabled, then relaunch:

Parallel downloading:            #enable-parallel-downloading
GPU rasterization:               #enable-gpu-rasterization
Experimental QUIC protocol:      #enable-quic

Add uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Store — one extension that removes most ads and trackers, which also makes pages load faster. That is all a clean browser needs; ten extensions will undo everything this guide did.

6. Optional / advanced

~10 min, all optional

Everything in this section is a trade-off, not a free win. Skip it all and the guide still works.

Memory Integrity — the honest trade-off

Memory Integrity (Core Isolation) is a security feature that blocks unsigned drivers from kernel memory. Older guides — including the original version of this one — turn it off for a small performance gain.

  • On modern hardware, keep it ON. Current CPUs handle it at near-zero cost, and it is real protection for a daily machine.
  • Turning it off is optional and advanced: consider it only on a dedicated gaming or single-purpose machine where you have measured it costing frames, and you accept weaker driver security. Windows Security → Device security → Core isolation → Memory integrity.

CompactOS — after about a month

Once the system has settled (the original guide waits about a month of use), Windows can compress its own system files to free several GB. Run in an Administrator terminal:

compact.exe /compactos:always

Best for small SSDs. On a fast NVMe with plenty of free space, the gain is storage, not speed — and it is reversible with compact.exe /compactos:never.

7. What NOT to do

~2 min read

  • Do not run random "debloat" scripts you found in a video description. If a script does not show you exactly what it changes, it is not a tool, it is a risk.
  • Do not disable Windows Update, Defender, or the firewall to "gain performance". You gain almost nothing and lose your safety net.
  • Do not use registry cleaners or driver-booster apps. They cause more problems than they have ever fixed.
  • Do not apply ShutUp10++ or winutil settings beyond the recommended presets unless you can name exactly what the setting does.
  • Do not turn off security features (Memory Integrity, SmartScreen) as a default habit — only as a measured, single-machine decision.
  • Do not download Windows ISOs or tools from random re-upload sites. Use the links in Resources, and check file hashes when they are offered.

8. Final checklist

~5 min to verify

Work top to bottom. 0 / 10 done

All ten ticked? You are done. Enjoy the quiet machine.

Resources

Every link used by this guide, plus the toolkit extras from the author's bookmarks. All links verified when this page was published.

Guide resources

Extras / toolkit

  • Vencord (GitHub) — a popular Discord client mod that adds plugins and themes.
  • SpotX (GitHub) — a modified Spotify client setup that blocks ads and updates.
  • SketchUp Make 2017 (Internet Archive) — the last free desktop SketchUp, archived on archive.org with its file listing and downloads.
  • XiControl (GitHub) — tray utility for Xiaomi / Redmi laptops: battery charge limit, performance modes, and auto refresh rate, with no extra drivers.

About the author

I'm Ze (Mark) Song, a programmer in Aurora, Ontario. I keep my machines the way I build software: clean, fast, and only what's needed. My main project is Foxuma — a business platform for shops (projects, orders, invoicing, and an AI assistant) that runs a real cabinet shop every day.

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