I haven't had anything to do with windows in like 5+ years. I need to set up a laptop with it for someone tomorrow, I'm guessing W11 is nowadays recommended? what's currently the best option for a hassle free experience (no ads, no random game installs, no migrations to onedrive, etc)?
last time I did it, I used the W10 ISO from Microsoft, applied the hwidsomething and ran some debloater from github. back then there were some ESR LTSC ISOs available on torrent sites, is that still a thing?
the install is going to use firefox, chrome, skype, libreoffice, etc., they all autoupdate themselves, so it's going to be reasonably secure. what's my best bet for a set & forget situation? thanks.
I recommend Rufus for a hassle-free W11 install. Download the official iso from the Microsoft website and use Rufus to put it on a USB. Rufus has options to bypass the W11 hardware requirements and to bypass the need for Internet while installing W11. This will also disable the need to login to a Microsoft account.
There's workarounds by going into CMD during the Windows install but Rufus makes it a lot easier.