Windows 10 Fall 2018 Update: A LTSC Usability Problem Microsoft Missed

Let me be clear upfront: the Windows 10 Fall 2018 update, version 1809, did not delete my user files and did not touch my activation keys. Those horror stories made the rounds and understandably scared a lot of IT administrators. That is not what this post is about.

This is about a quieter, more frustrating problem. A usability issue that suggests Microsoft's engineers lost track of which version of Windows they were actually building for.

At work, we run the Long Term Servicing Channel build of Windows 10, now called LTSC, previously called LTSB. The Long Term Servicing Channel exists specifically for environments that need maximum stability and minimal disruption. It is the right choice for a lot of businesses, and we made that choice deliberately. The tradeoff has always been clear: you give up Microsoft Edge and the Microsoft Store in exchange for a leaner, more predictable operating system.

Losing Edge was never a hardship. Losing the Store created some friction. A few users wanted access to the Windows Subsystem for Linux, which inexplicably requires the Microsoft Store to download and install. Others ran into printer driver issues, specifically with HP hardware, that also required the Store to resolve. Those are legitimate complaints worth a separate conversation with Microsoft.

But the 1809 update introduced something new and genuinely irritating. The updated interface now includes a Themes section, which has never appeared in an LTSC build before. Scattered throughout the updated UI are hooks and prompts pointing directly to the Microsoft Store, a component that is not installed and was never meant to be part of this build.

Click on certain interface elements and you are told you need a Store package to proceed. Try to use the updated Snipping Tool, which now prompts you to upgrade to Snip and Sketch, and you are directed to download an app that only exists in the Store. The Store that is not there. The Store that was intentionally left out.

This is what makes it frustrating. These are not edge cases or obscure settings. These are visible, everyday parts of the interface. In the previous 2016 LTSB build, none of these prompts existed. Someone made a decision during the 1809 development cycle to update the interface without accounting for the fact that LTSC users would be staring at buttons and options that lead nowhere, for the next three years.

The ask here is simple. Microsoft, when you build for LTSC, please take the time to remove or hide the elements that depend on components your LTSC users deliberately do not have. Do not leave people staring at a prompt they can never fulfill. That is not a small thing when you are managing a fleet of business machines and your users are asking why something that looks like it should work simply does not.

Do better with the details, Microsoft. Your enterprise customers are counting on it.