Installing Linux on a Chromebook
Linux on a Chromebook. A guide with GIFs!
If you read my latest blog post on my old Chromehacker blog it said that I am posting them all here! That wasn’t a lie. Here is the first guide.
Starting to installing Linux on a Chromebook is weird and looks sketchy. You will also not have access to the internet so write these steps down, or pull them up on a second device like a phone! Also please note that I can’t give you photo’s of this part as it doesn’t let you take screen shots during it. Before doing this please be aware that this will wipe your data along with you warranty. Do not do this on company, school or devices you do not own with out their knowing so!
Press down this key combo at the same time to begin esc + refresh + power this will show a screen that says something like Chrome OS is missing or damaged. Do not fear, press ctr + d and enter. It should begin the transition to developer mode!
It will now show you the OOBE or Out Of Box Experience, when you first boot up the device, Complete the on screen steps to get into your like new Chromebook.
Please note: When ever your device boots up it will say that Chrome OS verification is missing it will also tell you to press space. Do not! This will take your device out of developer mode and wipe the device!
Now you have the hard part done. It’s the waiting game from here. I will try to keep this part as fast as possible.
Step 1: Navigate to goo.gl/fd3zc this will download a file called Crouton. You need this put it in your Downloads folder.
Step 2: You know back in the day when they only to use your computer was through the command line like MS-DOS well guess what we are going to do that in 2020! Type in this key combo: ctr + alt + t. Next type in shell. Then type in cd ~/Downloads. The next thing you type in is sudo install -Dt /usr/local/bin -m 755 ~/Downloads/crouton.
Step 3: Now, in the same window, type in this sudo crouton -t list it will show you a list of available desktops. If you don’t know what any of that stuff means then just type in sudo crouton -t gnome as this is what I suggest for Chromebooks.
Finishing up. Let’s finish setting it up!
Step 1: Enter in a perfected username & password
Step 2: To start Linux run sudo startgnome. If you didn’t use the command I told you to use when installing Linux it will tell you the command (ie.
You can start GNOME via the startgnome host command: sudo startgnome).
Please Note: To return to Chrome OS (and back to Linux) press ctrl + alt + shift + (Fn 1 & 2). To end your Linux session logout of Linux.
