general git links
hydrus stuff
installing and activating windows
what version?
definitely go LTSB / LTSC. fewer updates, and the updates that come along are not going to brick your pc like consumer windows 10. the Long Term Support Branch (or Long Term Support Channel as it's now called) is intended for enterprise users, so it will be inherently more stable.
there are two main versions, 2016 and 2019. any version between '17 to '19 is simply a cumulative update to the base 2016 iso.
you may run into images that have "N" in the name, this is a version that is distributed in europe and doesn't contain media playback applications due to european antitrust laws.
personally, I use the 2016 (1607) version. If you want WSL, get 2019.
fetching a clean .iso
If you don't want to mess around too much, MDL forums are generally trustworthy for windows images.
another way to do it is with this tool:
SVF.ISO.CONVERTER
SVF.ISO.CONVERTER MDL thread
essentially, what this tool does is fetch a source evaluation .iso from microsoft directly, then fetches an .svf file for whatever version you selected.
An .svf file is the difference between two images which can be used to patch a source iso, in this case, one directly from microsoft.
That patched .iso can then be compared
to hashes collected from the microsoft's site, listed below.
yes, unfortunately this information is not available anymore directly on the microsoft site unless you have a license; these mirrors are the best we've got for file validation
www.heidoc.net/php/myvsdump.php
msdn.lol-inter.net/families/695
an alternate way would be to download an .iso from a torrent site. the uploader "generation2" seems to have good images. don't install the preactivated iso, that can be done later.
file upload sites
text upload sites
other sites
operating systems
obscure or hobbyist
chans
another large collection here