Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC does not work with Sunshine

[heyjoeway]

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This isn't a support request, but something I found out through a lot of trial and error. Since I didn't see it mentioned anywhere else online:

Sunshine does NOT appear to support Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC.

This was discovered after doing 2 installs of Windows 11 (one normal w/ World region, other LTSC) on the same VM configuration under Proxmox. The two installs were set up in the same way:

• Install Windows from scratch
• Install Windows updates
• Install GeForce drivers (clean)
• Install Sunshine
• Disable firewall
• Attempt to connect

Otherwise they had the exact same specs, environment, config, everything. GPU is a GTX 1660. The specific error that was shown in Moonlight was the classic "No video received from host". Logs in Sunshine showed no obvious errors, even when set to verbose. Before testing in a clean environment, I also tried several other troubleshooting steps.

• Update Windows
• Remove Parsec virtual display (formerly had Parsec but uninstalled)
• Disable VM "iGPU"
• Uninstall all graphics drivers (DDU)
• Reinstall Sunshine (reset config)
• Set display ID manually
• Force software encoding and decoding
• Disable firewall
• Disable HAGS
• Works when connecting with Rustdesk

If you're like me and really want a clean VM of Windows accessible with Moonlight, your best bet is to install Win11 World and debloat.

[heyjoeway]

Okay, so the original point still stands, but I think I've narrowed it down further. It's Windows Defender. Not it being overactive, but having it fully disabled. I have no idea why. If you disable it by modifying registry settings in safe mode, (apparently AT ALL) it kills Sunshine. Really sucks because I'm still in the camp of not wanting any antivirus period.

[heyjoeway]

Okay one more... it seems to be BOTH:

• Win11 World + Defender: Works.
• Win11 World - Defender: Doesn't.
• Win11 LTSC + Defender: Doesn't.
• Win11 LTSC - Defender: Still doesn't.

It's frustrating because Sunshine is the only remote display-thing that seems to be this flaky. Parsec, RustDesk, and even NoMachine aren't this fussy. But I want Sunshine because it's the best performer that still supports direct IP connections.

[heyjoeway]

No, this is a bug. I'm creating an issue. If you turn off Real-Time Protection in Windows Security it immediately kills the connection and prevents reconnecting.