Good stripped down Windows 10 ISO for mining?

Parja

Parja

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2002
Messages
12,670
Anyone know of a good Win 10 ISO with all of the crap stripped out for mining?
 
Is there a real advantage of using a striped down version of Windows? If so, why not use an embedded version.
 
That’s kind of my point. Why trust an iso from someone on the internet over using an iso (embedded) directly from Microsoft.
 
Was curious as well what Windows offer over Linux? I have 10 rigs, and 9 of them run Ubuntu (nvOC) and 1 runs Windows (single 1080Ti gaming rig).

The Linux boxes run a watchdog that will restart the miner if hash rates drop, and the whole rig if that doesn't fix it. My Windows rig will just stop mining if there's an issue until I find out and then manually restart the miner, or reboot the rig and then start the miner. Granted it is rare I have to do that, but on my Linux rigs, I don't have to worry about anything, not even a power outage as it will boot back up on its own and start mining.

And then there is the whole Patch Tuesday thing with Windows that would be a royal pain, but I guess LTSB eliminates that concern?
 
pclausen said:
Was curious as well what Windows offer over Linux? I have 10 rigs, and 9 of them run Ubuntu (nvOC) and 1 runs Windows (single 1080Ti gaming rig).

The Linux boxes run a watchdog that will restart the miner if hash rates drop, and the whole rig if that doesn't fix it. My Windows rig will just stop mining if there's an issue until I find out and then manually restart the miner, or reboot the rig and then start the miner. Granted it is rare I have to do that, but on my Linux rigs, I don't have to worry about anything, not even a power outage as it will boot back up on its own and start mining.

And then there is the whole Patch Tuesday thing with Windows that would be a royal pain, but I guess LTSB eliminates that concern?
Click to expand...

WIndows vs. Linux all depends on your hardware, and your mining strategy (which coins, algorithms, mining software, profit switcher). The best profit switchers are currently on Windows. And overclock/GPU tweak options have been more limited on Linux in my testing.

For AMD mining, hashrates have been better on Windows due to blockchain driver; Windows has also featured better control over GPU settings with AMD, at least historically - there was a time that over/underclocking AMD cards on Linux didn't really work as well, or at all.

As for LTSB, forget it for mining. If you're going to use Windows at all, then get the latest Windows 10 Pro ISO (since FCU added 12-GPU support), debloat it with MSMG Toolkit, and disable Windows Update in services.msc.

Lastly, in your case you're actually losing money just having all your rigs just blindly mining ZEC on Linux, rather than using a profit switcher to use the same GPU cycles to mine the most profitable coin/algorithm moment to moment. Your rigs are voluntarily working for minimum wage.
 
Last edited:
profit switching isn't really a thing in linux sadly from what I've found. I have my linux amds just on eth with the occasional jump to cryptonight. my vegas always on cryptonight but are on windows presently since I haven't found a good linux solution for them yet. Nvidia is the main thing I feel a desire to put on windows for profit switching.
 
mkrohn said:
Nvidia is the main thing I feel a desire to put on windows for profit switching.
Click to expand...

Yep, there's a mining revenue boom happening right now with Nvidia + Windows + Nicehash. And I say that as someone that hates Windows 10 with a passion. If I wouldn't be losing money, I'd switch my rigs to Ubuntu in a heartbeat.
 
trick0502 said:
wouldn't the drivers be the same?
Click to expand...
Nope. Depending on the manufacturer some block all os but the one the thing is specifically stated for dispute the driver working just fine if they didnt go out of their way to prevent it. Other then that and often has specific support for 2012 r2 with 2016 you have to try the win 10 driver and hope it works
 
odditory said:
WIndows vs. Linux all depends on your hardware, and your mining strategy (which coins, algorithms, mining software, profit switcher). The best profit switchers are currently on Windows. And overclock/GPU tweak options have been more limited on Linux in my testing.
Click to expand...

My rigs are all Z270 or B250 based with G4400 or better CPUs, so running windows on them would be an option. I agree that profit switching options on Windows are much better. That said, based on my somewhat limited profit switching testing on MPH, I found there was a big penalty when switching between coins/algos and that sticking with a single coin for at least a few days, gave me a better return. Think of it like a large train. Once it stops, it takes it a good while to get back up to full speed again, like 12 hours or so. This could be something with MPH, dunno.

As for LTSB, forget it for mining. If you're going to use Windows at all, then get the latest Windows 10 Pro ISO (since FCU added 12-GPU support), debloat it with MSMG Toolkit, and disable Windows Update in services.msc.
Click to expand...

I do run the latest FCU on my windows boxes. I'll check out MSMG and see if I have better luck disabling updates.

Lastly, in your case you're actually losing money just having all your rigs just blindly mining ZEC on Linux, rather than using a profit switcher to use the same GPU cycles to mine the most profitable coin/algorithm moment to moment. Your rigs are voluntarily working for minimum wage.
Click to expand...

I switched to ZEN on 12/26 and will stay there until something else consistently sits near the top of WTM. I did play around with Awesome Miner this morning and was very impressed with its monitoring abilities alone. So impressed, in fact, that I busted out the Premium edition so that I could monitor all my rigs/asic's from a single pane:

AwesomeMiner_05.JPG


I still need to figure out how to get it to monitor my CPU XMR mining that I got going on 4 rigs (3 windows and 1 Lunix). And I should probably also look into exploring its profit switching capabilities as I might be able to coax some additional earnings out of my rigs.
 
ryan_975 said:
I use Windows To Go on a 32GB flash drive pulled from a Windows 10 Pro ISO using Rufus.

It runs just like normal Windows, but doesn't require installation, doesn't update on it's own (that I've seen), and it comes from a trusted source (MS).

http://www.intowindows.com/rufus-to-create-windows-to-go-usb-drive/
Click to expand...
I prefer Hasleo WinToUSB on a 64Gb stick for the added Virtual memory that things like cryptonight need. I am planning on debloating an ISO soon. I've just been running stock windows with some customizations like the AV turned off, auto login and updates off.
 
cdabc123 said:
WAYYYY better drivers on 2012. better performance by alittle bit. easier to work with. no reason to use 2016
Click to expand...

proof for both please?

Better drivers for desktop hardware you mean?

Better performance...for mining purely?
 
MrGuvernment said:
proof for both please?

Better drivers for desktop hardware you mean?

Better performance...for mining purely?
Click to expand...

dont feel like getting too much proof as i dont really want to re setup all the rigs with difernt os and test this again. driver support for desktop hardware would be identical. all my gpus are firepros and thare is better driver suport for those. im not sure about performance in total. i believe 2012 has less overhead then win 10 but is probably similar to 2016 a noticeable few mh/s over windows 7/10 in mining though.
 
mkrohn said:
whats different? All i saw was enterprise LTSB and went to looking... LTSB does sound perfect for mining. I run win 10 on some USB sticks and this does sound better.
Click to expand...

Standard Enterprise still absorbs major system-altering patches (not security patches, "feature updates") like Pro and Home do.

LTSB is guaranteed feature-stable for 2 years. So it's only REALLY absorbing security updates. Also, LTSB = NO STORE!
 
MSMG tool kit version 8.0 build your own os so to speak. Get it from mydigitallife forums.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top