How to Install Crouton on Your Chromebook

Turn your Chromebook into Linux by using this user-friendly Crouton guide

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Last Updated: July 17, 2024

Crouton is a script written up in a bundle to allow Chromebooks to become linux computers without sacrificing The Chrome OS Platform. This allows for the Chromebook to be more flexible, allowing you to run programs you wouldn't otherwise be able to.

Steps

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You can do this by holding the Esc and Reload buttons, and pressing the Power button; your computer will reboot, and if you were successful, a big exclamation mark will appear.
Press Ctrl+D in order to disable verification; then press ↵ Enter. Your Chromebook will reboot and press Ctrl+D again in order to start developer mode.

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This will take a while as your Chromebook prepares for developer mode; spend a few minutes getting a cup of coffee or relaxing.
There are two ways you can do this, either by doing nothing or pressing Ctrl+D again.
Just like when you first got your Chromebook, you'll have to set up your laptop. Make sure you connect your Chromebook to wi-fi.
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Open Crosh. You can do this by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T. Once there type shell, then the following command: sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -t kde sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -t unity, or sudo sh ~/Downloads/crouton -t xfce.
- For some Chromebooks, such as the Acer Chromebook series, you may want to add the following line of code to the end of your command line: -r trusty.
The installation may last either 10 mins or more.
This is what you're going to use for the system your installing. Make sure you remember the password, as you need this to install programs.

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Tips

There are 3 Linux distributions you can use: KDE, XFCE, or Unity.

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You may store the Crouton file on a usb flash drive; that works too.

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Warnings

Be careful once you install this, as the Crouton once installed allows for unlimited system access.

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This will delete all of your data, Backup data if necessary.

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You can break your Chromebook doing this, although this happens rarely.

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