This topic is all about Chromebook “hacking” (enabling stuff like Crouton and developer mode and stuff like that).


No, Chromebook “hacking”, or unlocking, is not regular hacking AT ALL. Instead, Chromebook unlocking is enabling developer mode and doing whatever to it, including installing Linux and ditching the “safe environment” of ChromeOS or even wiping the OS and installing ChromiumOS on it instead. If it involves Linux or turning on Developer Mode, then it's unlocking.

An exception is trying to bypass any content filters on a Chromebook. That's not unlocking, and is actual hacking (because you are trying to bypass a security measure). Please, don't do that.



A really important step is to enable developer mode on your Chromebook (please note that school notebooks are a lot more involved than the steps described)

First, backup, as enabling and disabling this mode WILL wipe your data.

Then, do the following steps: (from Android Authority's guide)

1. Press and hold the Esc key, refresh key, and the power button simultaneously.
   
2. When the Chrome OS is missing or damaged. Please insert a recovery USB stick or SD card message shows up, press and hold the Ctrl and D keys simultaneously.
   
3. Some Chromebooks may require you to turn OS verification off. Press Enter (if required).
   
4. Wait for the device to restart and go through the Chromebook setup process.
   
5. You will get an odd screen saying that OS verification is off. Keep in mind this screen will happen every single time you boot up.
   
6. Press Ctrl and D to restart successfully.
   

Bam! You enabled the hidden mode. Just note that if you do have any issues with an unlocked chromebook, then Google will NOT be able to help you, but we might. My tip is to make a backup.

I had enough living on the edge. How do I relock my Chromebook?

Just note that this step will also wipe your OS. (and this is from the same guide)

1. Press the spacebar when the screen that says OS verification is off shows up.
   
2. This will perform a factory data reset and wipe the laptop clean.
   
3. Go through the Chromebook setup process again.
   

And now that your Chromebook is no longer unlocked, Google can now give you advice, and we can now stop giving you advice.

I unlocked my device, now what?

You can ask any questions about what to do next here, but my plan is to:

• Manage to get Crouton working (even though it is under maintenence mode)
  
• Install XCFE on it.
  
• Try to make it run both Tux Racer and Steam (mostly just for Geometry Dash)
  Oh, and can't forget about librewolf/ungoogled chromium as compared to Googl£ Chrome
  
• Who knows what will happen next?
  

Do you recommend doing this?

If you care about security, no. But if you want to live on the edge and get full access to Linux services (and not whatever Crostini is), then definitely. And while your at it, can I just say this?

This forum post is for educational purposes only! The owner of this post will not be hold liable for any damages done to your Chromebook in any way, shape or form. Basically, if you do the damage, you pay for another one.

Enabling Crostini isn't hacking; you don't even need developer mode to do it.

You gotta do a LOT of “hacking” to get BASIC functionality on a Chromebook. This is TERRIBLE.

Accessing the entire filesystem, basic functionality
Writing a disc image, basic functionality
Everything you want to do OTHER than browser the web, BASIC functionality.

They are sacrificing usability, and wasting the hardware by these limitations.

someone in my friend's school replaced chromeos on his school chromebook with windows 11
He only got caught when he had to use one of the school's pre-loaded apps

scratchusername40 wrote:

someone in my friend's school replaced chromeos on his school chromebook with windows 11
He only got caught when he had to use one of the school's pre-loaded apps

Shoulda hacked it to run chromeos apps

medians wrote:

scratchusername40 wrote:

someone in my friend's school replaced chromeos on his school chromebook with windows 11
He only got caught when he had to use one of the school's pre-loaded apps

Shoulda hacked it to run chromeos apps

Lol, never would have dared to do it on a school chromebook
Is there some way to just put an emulator on ChromeOS to use another OS?

MagicCrayon9342 wrote:

You gotta do a LOT of “hacking” to get BASIC functionality on a Chromebook. This is TERRIBLE.

Accessing the entire filesystem, basic functionality
Writing a disc image, basic functionality
Everything you want to do OTHER than browser the web, BASIC functionality.

They are sacrificing usability, and wasting the hardware by these limitations.

those are not basic functionality for people who are buying chromebooks!

lots of consumers nowadays buy laptops for school or work cases in which everything they use is web-based. chromebooks cater to that audience. what you listed is NOT basic functionality, it's now pretty much power user functionality.

ZZC12345 wrote:

medians wrote:

scratchusername40 wrote:

someone in my friend's school replaced chromeos on his school chromebook with windows 11
He only got caught when he had to use one of the school's pre-loaded apps

Shoulda hacked it to run chromeos apps

Lol, never would have dared to do it on a school chromebook
Is there some way to just put an emulator on ChromeOS to use another OS?

yes actually! Chromebooks ship with a way to set up a Linux VM out of the box (settings -> “Turn On Linux”) and if they're in developer mode you can run Debian pretty much natively (albeit in a chroot so it's a little janky)

I've run Manjaro from a MicroSD Card on my Chromebook, but sadly it sucked because of the suboptimal hardware support. Honestly Chromebooks aren't made to do things other than they're intended to.

LegoManiac04 wrote:

I've run Manjaro from a MicroSD Card on my Chromebook, but sadly it sucked because of the suboptimal hardware support. Honestly Chromebooks aren't made to do things other than they're intended to.

Yeah, I didn't mention ACTUALLY natively running Linux because it's a HUGE pain and honestly is just slower and less work-y than Crostini

bigspeedfpv wrote:

ZZC12345 wrote:

medians wrote:

scratchusername40 wrote:

someone in my friend's school replaced chromeos on his school chromebook with windows 11
He only got caught when he had to use one of the school's pre-loaded apps

Shoulda hacked it to run chromeos apps

Lol, never would have dared to do it on a school chromebook
Is there some way to just put an emulator on ChromeOS to use another OS?

yes actually! Chromebooks ship with a way to set up a Linux VM out of the box (settings -> “Turn On Linux”) and if they're in developer mode you can run Debian pretty much natively (albeit in a chroot so it's a little janky)

I thought that just ran Linux for individual apps (which were managed by ChromeOS) and not for the entire OS?

ZZC12345 wrote:

bigspeedfpv wrote:

ZZC12345 wrote:

medians wrote:

scratchusername40 wrote:

someone in my friend's school replaced chromeos on his school chromebook with windows 11
He only got caught when he had to use one of the school's pre-loaded apps

Shoulda hacked it to run chromeos apps

Lol, never would have dared to do it on a school chromebook
Is there some way to just put an emulator on ChromeOS to use another OS?

yes actually! Chromebooks ship with a way to set up a Linux VM out of the box (settings -> “Turn On Linux”) and if they're in developer mode you can run Debian pretty much natively (albeit in a chroot so it's a little janky)

I thought that just ran Linux for individual apps (which were managed by ChromeOS) and not for the entire OS?

Yes and no. You don't get an entire desktop environment, but it's basically a built-in, stripped-down Debian, probably similar to Window's Linux integrations.

ZZC12345 wrote:

bigspeedfpv wrote:

ZZC12345 wrote:

medians wrote:

scratchusername40 wrote:

someone in my friend's school replaced chromeos on his school chromebook with windows 11
He only got caught when he had to use one of the school's pre-loaded apps

Shoulda hacked it to run chromeos apps

Lol, never would have dared to do it on a school chromebook
Is there some way to just put an emulator on ChromeOS to use another OS?

yes actually! Chromebooks ship with a way to set up a Linux VM out of the box (settings -> “Turn On Linux”) and if they're in developer mode you can run Debian pretty much natively (albeit in a chroot so it's a little janky)

I thought that just ran Linux for individual apps (which were managed by ChromeOS) and not for the entire OS?

It runs a full Debian VM, it just doesn't have a desktop environment. You can use GUI apps but they are shown as ChromeOS apps.

If you do the developer mode method, you get a full DE

bigspeedfpv wrote:

It runs a full Debian VM, it just doesn't have a desktop environment. You can use GUI apps but they are shown as ChromeOS apps.

If you do the developer mode method, you get a full DE

Which is why I basically touted developer mode as the magic bullet in OP.

DifferentDance8 wrote:

bigspeedfpv wrote:

It runs a full Debian VM, it just doesn't have a desktop environment. You can use GUI apps but they are shown as ChromeOS apps.

If you do the developer mode method, you get a full DE

Which is why I basically touted developer mode as the magic bullet in OP.

It really depends on what you want to do. My main issue with it is that you don't get any systemd functionality since it's just a chroot, so it's super limited. The main thing you gain is direct USB access, other than that I feel like Crostini is better. I could be missing something big though, I'd love to be proven wrong! all the more reason to mess around with it :p

I'd like to Bring Up Your Post

You can hack pretty much anything at here.

MagicCrayon9342 wrote:

You can hack pretty much anything at here.

Cool project! However, it requires a IP address. Is there anyway to just enter in a email address or something and it gets the IP of the email address?

MagicCrayon9342 wrote:

You gotta do a LOT of “hacking” to get BASIC functionality on a Chromebook. This is TERRIBLE.

Accessing the entire filesystem, basic functionality
Writing a disc image, basic functionality
Everything you want to do OTHER than browser the web, BASIC functionality.

They are sacrificing usability, and wasting the hardware by these limitations.

That's the entire point. Chromebooks are basically large phones with the sole purpose of using cloud and web based applications. They are popular in schools and some work environments because they can be clamped down and controlled very easily and they are relatively inexpensive.

I would wager the entire reason Chromebook hacking exists is because of bored middle and high schoolers.

At my school, we're lucky. We get** Windows 10 laptops*.

I mean… they're so old they have VGA ports… but they can run Windows fine…
And they're only for use in the classroom, so we can't take them home…