Y'all need to get yourselves that Windows 10 2021 LTSC IoT badboy (IoT part is important). It's supported until 2032 and it's only bloat is edge. If I had to use windows again it would be that.
That version doesn't even have the Windows Store, which is a huge bloat of it's own. Oh and it doesn't even stop there, apparently Microsoft treats even their Pro-users like trash nowadays, that you have full control of what you do on the Win10 2021 LTSC/LoT as opposed to the Pro version and it costs more.
I was going to ask how WSL gets installed without the Windows Store, but looks like the install path doesn't use the store anymore. That was one of the few things I ever used the store for.
I couldn't find a version of this that would work in a VM. The few I tried were "preactivated" and then complained about hardware changes when I tried to install in a VM.
No I'm not asking people to find me a working release. I'm just complaining that I just can't be assed mucking around with unlicensed installations.