Although Chrome Bone is competent at handling web-based workloads, by pattern it'south light on features compared to a full desktop operating system, which is presumably where many of its users are coming from. Fortunately, if you lot're on Google's operating system and wish information technology was a little more flexible, information technology's possible to install a fully functional copy of Linux on many Chrome devices.

Options range from running a Live USB drive outside of Chrome Os to installing a firmware modernistic for a traditional dual-boot configuration. And of course, you can besides overwrite Google's OS in favor of Linux. Notwithstanding, these routes are less practical than but running Linux in the groundwork of Chrome OS on a separate USB bulldoze/SD card, which is what we'll exist focusing on hither.

The main reason for this being that few Chromebooks have more than than 32GB of storage and you'd have to play it pretty conservatively to give Linux enough storage space, particularly so on the basic 16GB Asus C202SA we've been using for testing Chrome Bone. It should too be said that Chrome Bone has its perks (great battery life, speed, ease of access) which may be useful if yous don't need Linux 24/vii.

Earlier you get started…

Your mileage will vary depending on the device, distro, and installation method. It's likewise worth mentioning that if yous're not experienced with Linux, this process might crave some trial and error merely experimenting is depression risk.

As well read: A Beginner'south Guide to the Linux Command Line

Regardless of your approach you need to enter Chrome OS Developer Mode, which will warn you about wiping your local files, but everything else is synced to Google and will reappear when you log back into your account.

To enter Developer Style: Press the Escape + Refresh + Ability buttons at the aforementioned fourth dimension and then hit Ctrl + D when you reach the white screen (you lot'll have to hit Ctrl + D at this same white screen every time yous reboot now).

Reverting back to the normal mode can be initiated by hit your space bar at the same white screen, and again, this will wipe local files. On the vivid side, Chrome OS merely takes a few minutes to fully wipe and reinstall.

Step one: Format your Linux drive to .ext4

It may exist easiest to format your new Linux bulldoze with some other car, but it is possible via Chrome OS Programmer Mode and you should already take that enabled.

Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) in Chrome OS and enter the following lines (you can re-create whatever of the commands below and right click in the concluding to paste them):

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sudo su
df -h (populates a listing of directories including your soon-to-be Linux drive)
sudo umount /dev/YourLinuxDrive (that's umount, not united nationsmount…)
sudo dd if=/dev/aught of=/dev/sdX bs=1M count=100
sudo sync
sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/YourLinuxDrive

Reboot your Chromebook and the bulldoze should exist remounted and set for Linux (if not, squirt and reinsert the drive).

Step 2: Install Linux to formatted bulldoze via Crouton

Picking a distro will depend on compatibility with your hardware. If you're non sure which OS to attempt, we propose Trusty Ubuntu, which has worked cracking on the Asus C202SA. Y'all don't need to download this in accelerate.

You exercise, even so, need to download Crouton or the 'Chromium Bone Universal Chroot Surroundings': Go to the GitHub page on your Chromebook and click the goo.gl link (currently https://goo.gl/fd3zc) which should place a Crouton file in your downloads folder.

Assuming your drive is already formatted to ext4, you lot're set up to brainstorm the install (you can replace "trusty" and "xfce" with your preferred distro and interface):

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sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r trusty -t xfce -e -p '/media/removable/YourLinuxDrive'

Provide passwords when prompted and prepare to wait a while.

To update your install with new parameters later you can utilise the -u operator. This is also handy if your install pauses or fails and you want to resume where you left off:

sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r trusty -t xfce -u -due east -p '/media/removable/YourLinuxDrive'

Step 3: Launch your new Linux install

Assuming everything went smoothly, you tin can access your new Linux installation with the following commands (shell isn't necessary if it has already been entered):

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sudo sh '/media/removable/YourLinuxDrive/bin/startxfce4'

To leave and return to Chrome Bone merely log out of Linux with the GUI.

Note: For some reason, every time we've done this in that location is no Internet connection on the first log in to Linux only afterward exiting and reentering the OS everything works as expected. Too note that the downloads folder is shared between Linux and Chrome.

Helpful links: Ubuntu Packages - Crouton Commands - Linux Commands - GalliumOS Wiki

I don't have a spare USB bulldoze/SD card!

In case you haven't priced them in a while, it's worth noting that there are $25 64GB drives effectually in both formats so those might be worth considering. Although we oasis't written a step-by-step for all of these options, the information below should become you pointed in the right direction for each method y'all can use to install Linux on a Chrome device, forth with the reasons why we wouldn't recommend them for nearly people.

  • Traditional live USB drive/device - Requires a firmware modernistic for boot selection and you must exit Chrome Bone to access Linux.
  • Crouton on your default drive aslope Chrome Os - You lot'll want at least a 32GB SSD and you can brainstorm with the instructions above in footstep 2 only exclude "-p '/media/removable/YourLinuxDrive'" so the installation is no longer pointed at a separate drive.
  • Traditional dual boot - We wouldn't endeavor this either on less than 32GB Chrome devices and it also requires one of these firmware mods.
  • Overwrite Chrome Bone entirely - Nosotros don't recommend this because Chrome OS is handy for its battery life and speed, but you lot volition again crave i of the firmware mods already linked, which will permit y'all to boot off a live Linux bulldoze to install the OS as you commonly would.

Wrap Upward Tip

If you dual-boot Chrome OS and Linux and want to reclaim the latter division, reinstalling Chrome Bone with a recovery drive will automatically delete and merge all partitions. Although enabling/disabling programmer mode performs a powerwash, this doesn't appear to touch other partitions. You lot can create a Chrome OS recovery drive with the Chromebook Recovery Utility extension, which can run from your Chromebook or Chrome browser on another auto.