Office LTSC 2024 was released on 16 September 2024, and the customer environments I review brought up the usual questions right away. When does the perpetual version make sense, and when does it only add complexity? The support window is fixed at five years (through autumn 2029), so the discussion has started again, mostly around production machines, disconnected networks and tightly regulated sectors. For most users in 2024, though, the old arguments for and against LTSC carry even more weight than before.

Office LTSC 2024 works well in a small set of scenarios

What Office LTSC 2024 does best is stay predictable. After deployment the feature set is frozen. The UI doesn't change unexpectedly and no new features show up unannounced. You only get security and bug fixes. Highly controlled environments need exactly that, for example production lines, laboratory PCs or government workstations cut off from the internet. Outside those cases the limitations are hard to ignore: No Copilot, no evolving cloud features, no dynamic security improvements, and Teams is not included. Teams has to be deployed separately and comes with functional restrictions.

Practical tip: If users need to collaborate on files, use Teams, or benefit from Copilot and cloud integration, stay away from LTSC wherever you can. For real offline or legacy scenarios, it's still a valid option.

I covered typical use cases and alternatives in more detail in my earlier post on Office 2016/2019 end of support.

Office LTSC 2024 differs sharply from Microsoft 365 Apps and their update channels

The naming confuses a lot of people. "Office 2024" usually means the perpetual retail version, while larger organisations look at Office LTSC 2024 through volume licensing. Both are very different from Microsoft 365 Apps (formerly "Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise"). LTSC and Office 2024 receive only security updates. There are no new features, no Copilot and no ongoing development. If a business wants to stay current, Microsoft 365 Apps with sensibly chosen update channels are still the better choice. Microsoft's official overview of Office LTSC 2024 lays out the differences, particularly in support timelines and feature sets.

Deployment still runs through ODT, a config XML and volume activation

Nothing new here. You deploy with the Office Deployment Tool (ODT) and a config XML. For LTSC 2024 the channel has to be set to PerpetualVL2024, and the product IDs include ProPlus2024Volume for Pro Plus. Remove older MSI-based Office versions first, otherwise activation tends to cause trouble. Activation works through KMS for networked systems or MAK keys for standalone machines. This is an example ODT config snippet:

<Configuration>
  <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="PerpetualVL2024">
    <Product ID="ProPlus2024Volume" />
  </Add>
  <RemoveMSI />
  <Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
</Configuration>

Figure: Sample ODT configuration for Office LTSC 2024

The complete steps are in Microsoft's deployment guide for Office LTSC 2024. Connections to Microsoft 365 services (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, etc.) are officially supported until LTSC 2024 reaches end of support in 2029. Unlike Office 2016/2019, there's no early cut-off.

KMS or MAK handles activation, and legacy Office has to go first

In larger environments KMS is the standard route. You update the KMS host with the 2024 key, and clients on the network activate as they always have. Standalone or isolated systems can use MAK keys instead. Getting rid of old MSI-based Office installations matters a lot, and the RemoveMSI option in the ODT config takes care of that. Before rolling out LTSC, I always check the installed apps or run a software inventory script so that leftover legacy installs don't catch me off guard.

Update lifecycles and support boundaries are described in Microsoft's update documentation for LTSC 2024.

I reserve LTSC 2024 for the genuine outliers

LTSC isn't obsolete, but it isn't for everyone either. In my projects I only use it for real exceptions, meaning regulated, stable or disconnected setups that can't cope with change. The rest of the business is generally moving to a cloud-first subscription model with Microsoft 365 Apps, including Copilot and continuous updates. The hard part is spotting those special cases early and keeping LTSC use under tight control.

A clear policy and a good inventory save you a lot of trouble later. Used deliberately, Office LTSC 2024 handles niche requirements reliably. Rolled out without much thought, it slows the organisation down and makes the user experience worse.

To make the choice between LTSC and cloud-based Office easier, I put together this simple diagram:

flowchart TD
    Need["Special case? (Offline/Regulated)"] -->|"Yes"| LTSC["Office LTSC 2024"]
    Need -->|"No"| M365["Microsoft 365 Apps"]
    LTSC --> NoCopilot["No Copilot, no cloud features"]
    M365 --> Copilot["Copilot, cloud innovation"]

Figure: Choosing between Office LTSC 2024 and Microsoft 365 Apps