Chromium OS is an open-source project that aims to build an operating system that provides a fast, simple, and more secure computing experience for people who spend most of their time on the web.
All downloads are located at https://chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk/. This will be updated daily where builds compile succcessfully..
Build Instructions for USB
- Linux
- Use p7zip to extract the IMG file from the downloaded file.
- At the shell, run the following (where sdX is your USB stick and ChromeOS.img is the path to the IMG file you extracted):
dd if=ChromeOS.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M - Boot from USB stick
- Windows
- Use 7zip to extract IMG file from the downloaded file.
- Use Win32 Image Writer, then select the IMG file and select the USB device from the menu.
- Click on “Write”.
- Boot from USB stick
All builds based on amd64 and ARM generic board.
If you want to install to your hard drive, follow the instructions here and here. Heed the warnings noted in the links!
Please note: there is a new behaviour with the chronos user password. The password has been removed from build R55-8777 onward and will continue to be removed for better overall security. Older builds have the password of ‘password’.
This means you need to use ‘chromeos-setdevpasswd’ from either shell or console to set your own password from build R55-8777 onwards.
By default, this also disables SSH access so if you also need this level of access, you will need to set a separate password using ‘sudo passwd chronos’. This allows the password for dev access and SSH access to remain separate if needed.
You can also just set a password using ‘sudo passwd chronos’ and this will allow for both dev and SSH access if you need to keep them the same. Do not use ‘chromeos-setdevpasswd’ if you want to keep the passwords the same.
Once installed, you can update from the Dev Server noted here.
Thanks to The Chromium Projects
Chromium OS GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
I have a working USB Chromium, thanx !
I want to install it on the harddisk of the laptop.
1. Will that work, with running install from the command line ?
2. Will I have the complete hd-capacity ?
3. If install does not work from command line, can I do a dd from USB to HD? what command line options do I use for dd ?
4. Will I have complete disk space of HD ?
Hi
1. Yes
2. It will use all the hard drive capacity
3. Never tried it
4. Is this the same as 2?
Arnold,
how do I run the install on the harddisk from booting from usb key ? What command should I use in the commandline ?
Make sure you are super-user (sudo su), then:
chromeos-installIf that gives you a “destination” error, try this:
chromeos-install --dst /dev/sdaThanx,
I got it working. Perfect!
On the USB pendrive I had flash working. I forgot what script I used for it. Cannot find the correct link for that…
For Flash:
curl -L www.brash.ca/flash.sh | bashDumb question but cannot seem to get video to stream with Plex either using https://app.plex.tv/web/app or the Plex from Webstore.
Hi arnoldthebat
Thanks for all the good work, as a result of it i have managed to get Chrome OS working on an old MSI CR620 laptop 🙂 The only thing however that does not work is the wifi, this appears to use an Intel Centrino N6300 AGN wireless card. Any chance you might be able to tell me how I could add the drivers if indeed they are available?
Thanks again.
I forgot to say that I am using your special build 7451.0.2015_09_12_1720. If I do an ls on /lib/firmware i can see all the iwlwifi files that the card needs listed, but if I try to modprobe -r iwlwifi the modprobe command is not recognised?
Hi
Try insmod /lib/firmware/”file”
You need to be in shell
the insmod command is not found if i run insmod /lib/firmware/iwlwifi
I have a problem with latest build. When I boot them there is a graphical bug and Chromium doesn’t boot.
Ill need a bit more detail please! Laptop model would be a great start.
It’s an ASUS X551CAP. The old builds worked perfectly but now they have a graphic glitch. When I boot from USB I select “Alternate USB image” (also other options have the same problem). After the display shows a gray part on the top as if the screen was broken.
Hello, I’m trying to install the U special edition to hard drive but when I click alt+Ctrl and T and type install it tells me it’s not a recognized command. I also tried /user/shin/chromeos-install but didn’t work. Is there a way to install it to hard drive?
Thanks.
Really nice would be a build that works with the ASUS Eee Pcs.
Because now since over a week im trying to get it to work but there is allways something that is not working either the Harddrive-recognition or the wifi or the touchpad.
Thanks for help or advice.
Hello, I installed the U special edition to a Dell gx520. I am having problems with the audio jack. When I put my headphones in the jack I can not hear anything but when I plug a USB speaker to the computer it works fine. Does anyone have a fix for these? Thanks.
Also on alsamixer there is no sound card.
I’m a Newbie to Chrome OS. I have an Acer Aspire One Model KAV10. I’ve swapped the hard drive and an now trying to load Chrome OS. I down loaded CARMOS-2015004010101, wrote it to a USB card and then tried to boot off the USB by selecting it as the boot device. I get an error message stating “No bootable device — insert boot disk and press any key”. Prior to using this version of code, I did the exact same steps to a different hard drive using Hexxeh-4028.0.2013_04_20_1746. This iteration worked but had a bug that wouldn’t allow me access to the Google Webstore.
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Is that an ARM processor? The only info I could find for that device showed it as an intel 32-bit processor. Have you tried the x86 image?
Yes, it’s an ARM processor. Tried several iterations of CARMOS to no avail. Will try an Cx86OS but not too confident that it will work. Will report back.
X86 version appears to boot, will continue with setup and see where it takes me.
Thanks for the help MrPlow!
Glad to help! Hope it’s functional for you. Arnold’s builds have given some of our devices new life. Trying to find a way to donate to him via my budget. Probably have to wait until I can generate “petty cash”.
Firstly,a very big thank you for all the effort and updates that you put from your side for this OS.Now everything works just fine just a few problems that occur.
1) The mic is not supported (i.e. a part of the headphones with a dedicated on hardware port/External Mics)
2) It would be helpful if a Flash player could be embedded by default into your builds.
Thank you
Flash cannot be built-in by default for legal reasons.
I am having nothing but issues installing Chromium OS Special build R47 Camd64. First ill start by saying it works great from usb for the most part. I am using an HP stream 13. I install to my eMMC SSD successfully, but upon boot I am left with a multitude of Grub options that show all the separate partitions the install made for chromium os install, but cant boot from any of them. Every video I have watched show the computer booting straight into os. Also, since I have done this install, my SSD is no longer recognized by my crunchbang os usb image regardless of how many times i format the storage. I have tried Fat, NTFS, and Ext4. I have used gnome disk util, Gparted, and terminal commands. I have reinstalled windows 10 ( which works actually) But still cant install chromium. I hope distros all day and have never had this kind of trouble. Is it because of the eMMC SSD? its got a strange label also, usually it would be /dev/sda but its actually /dev/mmcblk0. I have never seen that before. Boy, could I use some help.
Hi Juic3!,
I am also facing same issue with the same laptop. Please let me know if you were able to resolve this issue?
Thank You
Loads on my PC properly, but with the exception of google.com, all other websites I try to visit result in Chrome showing only a solid black screen. Sometimes the whole system freezes and I have to reboot. Any ideas?
On my Acer Aspire V the standard build largely works (but I do have issues with suspend and the touchpad, neither of which is a showstopper). However, something odd is happening with the wireless card.
When I boot, it shows as being disabled but as soon as my laptop connects to the network via ethernet, the wifi card suddenly starts working and stays working when I remove the ethernet cable. I’d be interested to know whether there is some way of prompting this behaviour without connecting to an ethernet connection first.
“sudo stop apmanager” I believe will sort this. Ill see if I can figure it out for the next build…
Hi again Arnold, this one threw me for a while as both builds, special and normal, have the issue of wifi not working until you use ‘sudo stop apmanager’ !
No problem, at least its something that’s a problem in both build types. Googles Dev team will also be aware of it so it will get fixed in the mainstream codebase.
Got touchpad and webcam working nicely on R46 7323 Special CAMD64 build.
Now only need Pepperflash + PDF + ffmpeg and I am a happy camper. I installed based on this http://benjaminpeters.co.uk/installing-flash-on-chromium-os/
…but it does not work (in any way). Flash shows up as installed (v15.xxx) under Chrome://flash
Anyways, great work… let me know if these things make the way into any (ahem) builds or new guides 🙂
CHEERS!
Thanks for the post, first time I have been able to find a way to install flash. Special Build and this link have breathed new life into old Dell Mini 1011
Hi all,
I work for a computer recycler. We are considering donating refurbished computers to low income families. Licensing from Microsoft is an issue. For many of these families this will be their first exposure to computers. Since these machines are dated a light weight system is also important.
We had considered a light Linux distro. However out concern is that the UI is more complex in them. Also, with Google’s move to donate Chrome books to schools it seems like this may be an opportunity for students to interface with an OS they find at school.
Hardware compatibility is a concern of course. We have as many P4 512ram class machines as we could ever use. What are thoughts about compatibility and performance here?
Oh yes, also stability and auto updates for security patches.
Thoughts?
Hi
Can you give me the full machine spec so I can look to see how compatible it may be?
Auto updates will be catered for via the update servers so you are OK on that point.
Just a short question.
If I run from USB, and install via scripts everything (like Flash/PDF/MP3), will all of that be transferred when installing to HDD, or need to be done again?
It will need to be done again on install to HDD
Really? Is that new? I used to create my install USB by installing Flash, etc, to the USB first. Then every machine I install on has Flash on it. .. . .. Am I crazy?
Erm, looks like I was wrong! I stand corrected so apologies!
mind sharing what method you use? most of the scripts around seems to install flash and pdf support, but mp3/mp4 is broken because of an update in R45 (libffmpegsumo isn’t being loaded anymore)
Hi
I’ve recently installed the special version of this OS. But i’ve found that tap to click isn’t working and the touchpad isn’t detected although i can still use it and scroll. Please can you help me, i’m using an old HP Compaq 6720s.
Tons of posts on that in the comments of several releases. Start by looking into the configuration files for X11. Specifically Synaptics and the “touchpad-cmt.conf” file. Sometimes it’s named 50-touchpad… sometimes 40-touchpad…. The number just tells the GUI server the order to load it (I think). Anyway, you’ll want to research the Synaptics settings for your specific model. It might not even be Synaptics. Might be a different driver model…
Hi Arnold,
Will the pre-build VM images work on a KVM Hypervisor?
Ragards,
ZM
Hi
Not done that yet (currently working on Drive API integration) so I couldn’t really comment.
Thanks for your work.
Is it possible to use the “developer_mode” like on Chrome OS and install additional packages with “emerge”?
How can I get the filesystem in read-write mode?
Read write mode: “mount -o remount, rw /”
Thanks for this it works great! My only problem is the wifi on the Lenovo G50 shows as disabled and i can only connect via ethernet.
Anyone else had this problem with the Lenovo G50?
Thanks
I also had this problem, it is mentioned above try “sudo stop apmanager” from CTRL-ALT-F2 on the login screen for the latest versions
I ended up getting frustrated as had the same wifi problem on an asus eepc so decided to put Ubuntu on them. No wifi problem 🙂
Is there a way to disable this on boot? Have to do this everytime I turn on my laptop.
Awesome! Working like a charm on asus eee 1005ha.
Hi all,
Arnold, thank you for your great work.
Could you please take a look at my issues below and advise how to fix them?
I’ve got Lenovo E125 Laptop
AMD C-50 CPU
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Wrestler [Radeon HD 6250]
01:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)
Full #lspci output – http://pastebin.com/k5XrQdNi
Used Build – Camd64OS-20151011010101.img
1. Issue 1: Wireless Network controller doesn’t work.
#ifconfig output (1) – http://pastebin.com/CY0NgN4X
#dmesg output (1) – http://pastebin.com/GZbBKJpk
Xorg.0.log (1) – http://pastebin.com/QErb17S7
Also there was a message during start up — [9.894175] rtlwifi: Firmware rtl/rtl8192cfw.bin not available
Tried to copy drivers downloaded from Realtek site http://goo.gl/EtA5L (Linux driver for kernel 2.6.24 (and later) 0012.0207.2013)
‘rtlwifi’ folder into ‘/lib/firmware’ (rtl8192cfw.bin included)
This time Wirless controller is available, but doesn’t scan networks.
#ifconfig output (2) – http://pastebin.com/9fwpr1DF
#sudo iwlist wlan0 scan – wlan0 Interface doesn’t support scanning: Operation not supported
#sudo iwconfig – http://pastebin.com/79ck6eEM
#dmesg output (2) – http://pastebin.com/yZhub9eV
Xorg.0.log (2) – http://pastebin.com/1vza2DiX
2. Issue 2: Ethernet controller doesn’t work (see #ifconfig output (1))
3. Issue 3: Some failure text output during starting OS up
Startup Log (1) – http://pastebin.com/xZHG67Er
Also I’ve tried Camd64OS_R47-7451.0-Special Build
but it doesn’t load up, showing chromium logo for a few seconds and then black screen with text – http://pastebin.com/gPv5v9AE
#ifconfig output (3) – http://pastebin.com/DvGXzV0M
#dmesg output (3) – http://pastebin.com/WEZQyvcx
Xorg.0.log (3) – http://pastebin.com/UfAH49Su
though the wireless network seems to be working
#sudo iwconfig – http://pastebin.com/LGwcwsVP
#sudo iwlist wlan0 scan – is showing list of available wireless networks
does anyone know or tried http://www.neverware.com/
How can they get away with installing Flash and api to make drive work?
I didn’t think that was allowed.
Gary
API is allowed (you just cannot distribute keys) and I’m working on that now as it happens. Flash will be a license agreement
Arnoldthebat, You are awesome. Great work.
I did try Nervware’s cloudready Chromium build on my Gateway Netbook (2 gigs of RAM, 1.7 Atom single core, 120 GB SSD) and it works well. It seems a little slower than the images provided here but it does a good job. Please note, I was unable to properly run some Flash sites such as Crackle, CTV, Global TV and other TV station web sites. Some shows will work while others you jsut get a blank screen. Otherwise, everything works as it should and it is very stable. All hardware works as it should even the mouse pad.
Can I make a copy of an installed image on a computer, upload it to a fog cloning server and then deploy it on other computers?
I’ve got Lenovo E125 Laptop
AMD C-50 CPU, VGA compatible controller: [AMD/ATI] Wrestler [Radeon HD 6250], Realtek RTL8188CE WiFi Adapter
Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet.
Full #lspci output – http://pastebin.com/k5XrQdNi
Used Build – Camd64OS-20151011010101.img
1. Issue 1: Wireless Network controller doesn’t work.
#ifconfig output (1) – http://pastebin.com/CY0NgN4X
#dmesg output (1) – http://pastebin.com/GZbBKJpk
Xorg.0.log (1) – http://pastebin.com/QErb17S7
Also there was a message during start up (http://pastebin.com/xZHG67Er)
Tried to copy drivers downloaded from Realtek site http://goo.gl/EtA5L (for kernel 2.6.24 (and later))
‘rtlwifi’ folder into ‘/lib/firmware’ (rtl8192cfw.bin included)
This time Wirless controller is available, but doesn’t scan networks.
#ifconfig output (2) – http://pastebin.com/9fwpr1DF
#sudo iwlist wlan0 scan – wlan0 Interface doesn’t support scanning: Operation not supported
#sudo iwconfig – http://pastebin.com/79ck6eEM
#dmesg output (2) – http://pastebin.com/yZhub9eV
Xorg.0.log (2) – http://pastebin.com/1vza2DiX
2. Issue 2: Ethernet controller doesn’t work either
Thanks for the detailed feedback! Ill take a look.
Hi
I have a problem when booting from USB. It gives me “couldn’t mount as ext3 due to feature incompatibility” and “VFS: Can’t find ext4 filesystem”. I’ve tried to format my disk to ext4 and ext3 with GParted live cd but it didn’t help. What should I do to make it boot?
Thanks
Nothing, thats a known ‘problem’ but doesnt stop the USB from booting.
Are your chromium special builds able to be enrolled in google enterprise management?
Working on that now since the last few builds look to have been a little flakey…
Hi!
I’m having an old laptop, Dell Latitude 610
It’s having a Pentium M processor without PAE support and after what I understand ChromiumOS does not support them.
Is it possible to make an build for this processor?
After trying some different builds I can’t get ChromiumOS to boot.
To bad when I thought that I would have som euse again for this old laptop…
Best Regards
/Rickard
Hi
Ill review this but its low priority really (sorry)
So i got Chromium OS finally booting on my HP Compaq 6730b and i could install it without problems! Thanks for that ! But I have some problems and it would be cool if you could help me :
1. I have to boot with the EFI File option in the boot medium thing because it doesnt detect Chromium OS as bootable but that isnt that much of a problem
2. The Touchpad scroll part isnt working but that isnt a big problem too
3. the mayor problem is when I watch a Stream with Flash (Twitch) my complete Netbook crashes like about 10 mins of watching I know you dont provide flash here but maybe you could help me. I tried many different versions of flash for chromium . Like every that is listed here and everyone I could find on google.
Just couple of questions.
1. How safe it is to use these builds?
2. Do I need to keep my version up to date to be safe?
3. If so, what ways there are to update the build?
Hi
Its development releases so relatively safe but I cannot guarantee it wont break things!
The latest special builds auto update, the dailys you can update by reading the detail on this website.
Hey Arnold,
I’ve noticed doing sudo apmanager stop fixes the ‘WiFi is turned off’ message, but I have to do this everytime I turn on my laptop. Is there a way to disable this service or something?
New special build out today fixes that!
When I try to install flash using:
curl -L http://www.brash.ca/flash.sh | bash
I get: “syntax error near unexpected token ‘newline'”
I have a Dell 2120 Latitude that I am working on. YouTube videos work just fine but other sites tell me that “This plugin is not supported.” for flash. Thanks for any help!
2 questions
Is it possible to run of an external hard drive?
Also Can I download google movies and have play back?
I tried this on 8 gig usb and was told there was not enough storage is this because of the usb or how much chromium allocated for downloads?
thanks Jam
thanks
Should work with USB hard drive. I cannot say I’ve tested it however!
Hi!
I’ve have a Bay Trail tablet with Realtek SDIO Wi-Fi rtl8723bs.
There is a driver for it here https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723bs
Could you please add it to support our tablets for Cromium OS?
Oh, I see, you’ve forked it already.
But it seem to me it’s not working for some reason 🙁
Its not built in yet. Now the new release is out (today) I can now start to fix things!
while im installing chromium from my usb to hard drive and im folling the instruction/tutorial then it always say corrupted memory after downloading the data/ata from this curl -L http:// http://www.brash.ca | flash.s ?? .. why?
following carefully**
Hey Arnold. Really appreciate how well the job is done by you. You let many of us get to know Chromium OS, a light-weight OS even my crappy Lenovo netbook can run as smooth as silk.
It is nealy perfect to me, with only a small issus. I am using a USB to plug into my netbook and boot Chromium OS. However, I cannot connect my Wifi (it said “Wifi disabled” in settings). I believe it is the problem of Wireless LAN driver (it works fine with a LAN wire). Is there any method for me to make it work ?
P.S. it’s a Lenovo E10-30 Laptop
Can you get to command line and post the output of lspci please?
Try the latest special build please and let me know how you get on
I am really enjoying your chromium builds, Thanks! I have a Toshiba laptop that seem seems to need special builds because network will not function in the daily builds. Unfortunately R47 was not working but R46 was very close to fully functional but was unable to update properly. Is there a procedure for adding the “special” items after an install of a daily build?
Hi
No, you need to use the special builds. The broadcom stuff for example is dependant on a specific kernel version that the daily builds don’t use
I got an iPad 1. Would like to run chromium on it. Haven’t found useful info yet. Any suggestions ?
Hi, I tried several versions but could get only one to work but i had a network problem, Chromium did not work with my wifi. do you have a solution?
What version did you try?
Hi, did you read the comments above about apmanager causing wifi issues. Not sure if this is resolved yet.
Greetings! I’m trying to get Chromium in VirtualBox on AMD-64. I’ve tried the latest VDI, but the image doesn’t start. Any guidance?
Its a bit broken at the moment (thats why I remover them). Ill be attempting to port into the special builds soon
if laptop does not boot from usb or any optical drives, can it boot from lan and install into hard drive?
Hi , arnoldthebat
Thanks a lot ! My rtl8723be network card is work well in your amd64OS_R48-7549.0-Special build by your hard work .
Could you tell the abbreviated procedure about how do you solve this problem to me ? Maybe i can solve the similar problems by myself and don’t bother you ;-p
Hi
The fix is currently to switch off apmanager in the build so the service stays off. I still need to finalise this since the service isn’t the only thing that starts apmanager…
Hello! I’m from Argentina, and I have a question.
I wont to try ChromiumOS, but I have two problems during instalation.
First, with none of the work builds me the plate wireless network.
Second, after entering the username and password of my user charging it remains eternally, and it does nothing more.
Can you help me?
Thank you so much . Regards.
Have you tried the special builds?
Hi,
My notebook is Sony vpncx138JC, Intel Atom 540, Atheros AR9285. The day before yesterday, Iv tried the version ‘Cx86OS20151030010101’ and ‘Cx86OS20151031010102’. Upon to now, the problem is all the same.
1. Touchpad doesnt work but I could use a mouse so this one is fine for me now.
2. the wifi is grey out. It was stuck on the first page.
Could you plz tell what should i do to solve the problem?
Many thanks, arnoldthebat!
Try the special builds please and let me know how you get on.
Many thanks for your reply, mate…
I still using the Cx86OS20151031010102
The problem solved by ‘sudo stop apmanager’.
Then the new one comes XD
after I login with chronos and password
to install to my hard drive ‘SAMSUNG MMCRE28GFDXP-MVB ATA Device’
‘/usr/sbin/chromeos-install’
or
‘chromeos-install –dst /dev/sda’
it all shows Error: can not determine destination device
I look for pages of webs and still havent find the right problem solver.
You need two dashes before the ‘dst’ part:
chromeos-install --dst /dev/sdaThanks MrPlow.
I did use two dashes actually.
I am thinking whether there is a way to list out the name and capacity of all disks.
How can I enable developer mode on a Dell Laptop?
Its already enabled….
On my Aspire One, the WiFi doesn’t automatically work, which is quite annoying. You said that disabling apmanager will fix it to some user, and yes it did.
However is there any command to disable apmanager every time I start Chromium? Because I don’t want to keep entering the terminal and do “sudo stop apmanager” every time I booted up Chromium or get a USB WiFi dongle to make the internal WiFi working again.
I hope you can reply ASAP.
/etc/init/apmanager.conf
remark out the exec statement at the bottom of the file, then restart.
apmanager is being called elsewhere I think as well but Ive not got to the bottom of that yet.
Hi,
– I have a DELL Chromebook 11. I was tried a lot of version Chromium OS of yours (from Daily to Special) but some missing the touchpad, some missing the Wifi. I can’t find the version which have bold of them. I’m a beginner, so I don’t know much about this.
– I just install Camd64OS-20151102010101 ver and they have the touchpad but no wifi. Find in this site, I found the line “sudo stop apmanager”. It’s work for me but only one time, when I reboot, I have to type that code again to enable the wifi. So what I should do to fix the wifi ?
Hope see your replay soon, thank you very much. Regards.
Edit /etc/init/apmanager.conf
remark out the exec statement at the bottom of the file, then restart.
apmanager is being called elsewhere I think as well but Ive not got to the bottom of that ye
Oh..
By the way, can you show me how to edit that file ? Where can I type that code ?
i have go inside the apmaneger.conf but it’s the readonly file so I cant save it
Hi
Try mount -o remount, rw /
Oh it’s work !! Thankyou very much !