Summary
install Windows.. The Google Chromebook is a great option to traditional PCs, but some users may miss how a Windows machine looks and feels. You’re in luck if you have a Chromebook and want to use Microsoft OS. The process of installing Windows 11 or 10 on a Chromebook is pretty easy. All you need are a few simple tools, some time, and a few installs.
Still, there are a lot of steps involved, so we made this guide to show you how to run Windows on your Chromebook in a safe and right way.
An alert
It’s hard to put Windows 11 or 10 on a Chromebook, and the output might not be great. For starts, makers choose parts that work well with Google’s light, web-focused OS. There aren’t any specialized graphics chips in most standard models, and they have less than 64GB of room and about 4GB of memory.
Also, Google and Microsoft do not allow Windows 11 or 10 working on systems designed for Chromebooks. That means you might not be able to find drivers that are approved by Microsoft and will have to use third-party options instead.
That being said, the hardest thing about running Microsoft’s software on Chromebooks is the process itself. There is a write-protect screw on the motherboard of most Chromebooks that stops you from loading an operating system. You’ll need to take off the bottom shell, unscrew the CPU, and then flash new software to get Windows 10 on the computer.
Last but not least, your Chromebook might not even have the tools to run Windows 11 or 10. CoolStar’s list will help you figure out if your Chromebook is suitable.
Having said that, if you don’t want to hack your Chromebook fully, you should always look at our list of options further down this page.
You can read on if you still want to know how to put Windows on a Chromebook.
Before you start
You should make a copy of any important files on your Chromebook before you start the big hacking journey of building Windows on it. Making changes to your system’s operating system, software, or BIOS can be very bad, and you might lose anything that isn’t already protected.
But if something does go wrong and you can’t use your Chromebook, you can make a USB drive from another computer to try to get it back. But this will delete all of your info, so you need to make backups. Go with Google Drive if you don’t have a flash drive on hand.
How to install Windows 11 on a Chromebook
You can follow the steps in our guide to install Windows 11 and 10 on your Chromebook. Remember that Windows 11 is a bigger OS and download than Windows 10, so make sure your Chromebook can handle it.
You should make sure that your Chromebook has at least 64GB of free space on the inside. Due to the need for QEMU and Virtual Machine Manager support, you’ll also need to use a Chromebook with an Intel chip and Linux installed.
Last but not least, make sure you have a USB flash drive, a second computer that runs Windows, a USB keyboard and mouse.
You can start downloading and installing Windows 11 on your Chromebook if all of these things are true.
Step 1: Turn on Developer mode on your Chromebook. Press the Power, Esc, and Refresh keys all at the same time to do this. After that, click on Enable Debugging Features.
Step 2: To open the terminal on your Chromebook, press Ctrl + Alt + T. Then type the question below: Do this: “sudo apt-get install qemu” After putting those things in, press Enter.
Step 3: To finish, open the console again and type this: After typing “sudo apt-get install virt-manager,” press “Enter.”
Step 4: Open a browser on your Windows computer and go to the Getting Windows 11 page from Microsoft.
Step 5: Put your USB drive in and open the Windows 11 file. Then hit Accept to finish the process.
Step 6: Click Make Installation Media for Another PC. This could be a USB flash drive, a DVD, or an ISO file. After that, click Next.
Step 7: Press Pick the choices that work best for this PC, then click Next.
Step 8: Click on the USB flash drive and then click on Next. Click Finish when the upload is done.
Step 9: Go back to your Chromebook machine now. Enter the terminal and press the Ctrl, Alt, and T keys to start up the Virtual Machine Manager. Type “virt-manager” and press “Enter.”
Step 10: Click on Make a New Virtual Machine and then click on Local Install Media. Then pick the file you used to install Windows 11.
Step 11: Figure out how much RAM and space your Windows 11 virtual machine will need in the eleventh step. You should give the virtualization about 8GB of RAM if possible, but 4GB might be enough. Your Chromebook should have 64GB of storage space built in.
Step 12: Click “Start Installation.” There you have it! You can now use the Virtual Machine Manager to start up Windows 11 on your Chromebook.
How to install Windows 10 on a Chromebook
For this installation method to work, you will need to take your Chromebook apart. If you don’t feel safe opening up your computer, you might want to try one of the other ways we list below this step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Get the tools that were mentioned above.
Step 2: Next, look online to find out exactly where the write-protect screw is on your Chromebook model.
Step 3: Press and hold the Chromebook’s Power button until it turns off.
Step 4: Turn the Chromebook over and take off the bottom cover.
Step 5: Find the write-protect screw and take it off.
Step 6: Put the Chromebook’s bottom shell back on and plug in the power charger.
Step7: To start Recovery Mode, press and hold the Esc, Refresh, and Power buttons at the same time.
Step 8: Press the Ctrl and D keys when the screen says Chrome OS is missing or broken.
Step 9: To stop OS testing, press the Enter key.
Step 10: The Chromebook should go back to Developer Mode after restarting. Tap the screen to show that OS verification is off. Then press the Ctrl and D keys to start Chrome OS.
Step 11: Press the Ctrl, Alt, and T keys at the same time once Chrome OS is up and running. This lets you into the Terminal.
Step 12: Type “shell” and hit “Enter.”
Step 13: To get a script file and run it with root rights, type the following code and press the Enter key: cd; curl -L go to https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh and run firmware-util.sh with sudo.
Step 14: Type 3 and hit “Enter.” This picks the choice to Install/Update Full ROM Firmware.
Step 15: Press Y to go on.
Step16: Type U to set up the UEFI software.
Step 17: Put a USB drive in to make a copy of the Chromebook’s present software.
Step 18: Once the new software that works with Windows is installed, turn off the Chromebook.
Step 19: On your second PC, follow the steps in our separate piece on how to properly download a Windows 10 ISO file and launch Windows 10. Basically, you use a different USB stick to make a working drive that will let you run Windows 10 on the Chromebook.
Step 20: On your second PC, visit CoolStar’s website to find out what drivers for Windows you need to put on the Chromebook. Discover them and save them to the USB drive you used to back up the Chromebook’s original software.
Step 21:The next step is to connect a computer and mouse to your Chromebook. Next, use the working USB drive to install Windows 10.
Step 22: After installing Windows 10, take out the setup USB drive and put in the USB with the drivers you downloaded. Then, update as needed.
Alternative 1: Use Microsoft’s free apps
In the next few parts, we’ll talk about ways to get a Windows-like experience without having to open up your Chromebook and load new software.
If you only want to use Microsoft’s office apps and don’t care about any of the other Windows 10 apps, this is by far the best way to do it.
Step 1: Start Chrome and go to the Office page as the first step.
Step 2: Sign in to your Microsoft Account. To use these free computer apps, you need to sign up for an account.
Step 3: Pick the web app from the list on the left. It opens in the same tab, so you don’t have to download anything.
Alternative 2: Use Chrome Remote Desktop
The Chrome Remote PC app just lets you use your Chromebook to connect to another PC. In this case, it sends a Windows 10 PC to your Chromebook and lets you use a mouse or touchscreen and a keyboard to work with it from afar.
The important thing about this method is that the second Windows 10 computer needs to be online. That’s the only way this can work.
Step 1: Open Chrome on the Windows 10 PC and type remotedesktop.google.com/access into the search bar.
Step 2: Under “Set Up Remote Access,” click “Download.” This gets the host program and sets it up.
Step 3: Pick a PIN that has at least six numbers, and then press the blue Start button.
Step 4: Let the Windows 10 PC read “online.”
Step 5: Make sure the Chromebook is signed in to the same account as the other computer and type remotedesktop.google.com/access into Chrome.
Step 6: Under “Remote Access,” click on the shared Windows 10 PC that you see.
Step 7: Type in the PIN you made on the Windows 10 computer and press the Enter key.
Step 8: Since Chrome doesn’t work well for screen sharing, click the square button with the up arrow in the search bar to move the screen to the Chrome Remote Desktop app.
Step 9: Find the blue and white button on the right (or left) edge of the app and click it.
Step 10: Make the changes you need to make, such as choosing “Full Screen,” “Enable Clipboard Optimization,” and more.
Now you should be able to connect to the Windows 10 PC from afar. Chromebooks have a mouse that you can use to move the pointer. You can type normally on the computer. You’ll see a small pop-up with a Stop Sharing button on the Windows 10 PC.
Note: This is a great app for remote desktop, but all apps for remote desktop have their flaws. They depend on internet links a lot, and sometimes there are delays. If both computers are connected to the internet quickly, this will work best.
Alternative 3: Use CrossOver
This is software called CrossOver by CodeWeavers that lets you run certain OS apps on other OSs. That means you can use Windows apps on your Chromebook.
CrossOver isn’t open to everyone because it needs certain tools. To be exact, it can only be used on Chromebooks that are powered by Intel. Android apps and gadgets must be able to work with Android 5.x or higher if you want to use them. A lot of the time, mouse locking is used in first-person shooter games, but it won’t work.
Next, you have to pay for CrossOver. The full version costs $40 right now, but for $60, you can get the full version plus 12 months of improvements. You can spend $500 and get updates for life on the software if you have a lot of extra cash. But for that price, you might as well get a PC that runs Windows 10.
What you need to do is:
Step 1: Open the Chromebook’s settings and choose Linux (beta) to turn on Linux. Do what it says on the screen.
Step 2: To get the free sample, go to CodeWeavers.com and give your name and email address.
Step 3: Click the box that says “Download Trial Now” in red. Chrome will get a DEB file from the page and save it where you usually save files.
Step 4: Find the file you downloaded, double-click it, and then click the blue Install button.
Step 5: To make sure, click the blue OK button. Linux is used to run the app.
Step 6: Open the Launcher and then the CrossOver app. Most likely, you can find it in the Linux apps folder.
Step 7: Click the button that says “Install Windows Software.”
Step 8: An extra window pops up. To see what you can install, click the link at the bottom that says “Browse Available Applications.” You can also click the Select launcher tab if you already have a launcher.
Step 9: Most of the time, you can confirm that this is the program you want, and CrossOver will start the installation quickly. There are times when you need to pick the right download file from a list. Carefully read the file names to make sure you pick the right one. At this point, you may also have to agree to License Agreements and other papers like them.
Step 10: Once the software is done, you should be able to start it right away. Keep in mind that big apps will take up a lot of room, and not all Chromebooks have that. There are other ways to use Android apps on Chromebooks that don’t take up as much space, though.
Alternative 4: Use Google’s Project Campfire
The idea of Chromebooks that work with Windows seems to have come from Google quickly a few years ago. People who have that link would be able to load and run Windows 10 through a separate setup. Google Chrome’s OS code may have had hints of “Alt-OS” for Chromebook users who are good with code. “Project Campfire” said it would combine the two operating systems on a single gadget.
It’s said that Google stopped working on this project in 2019. Google may have turned their attention to making Android and Linux better in Chrome OS, according to our guess.
Chrome in the Chromium Gerrit source shows some signs of Campfire working on Eve, which is what Google calls the Pixelbook. In fact, that code talks about a “Alternate OS mode” and “HID for Eve sensors Alt-OS,” which is similar to what we’ve seen before.
One great thing about Chrome OS is that it is a great source of system resources that are hard to come by. Windows 10, on the other hand, needs a lot more power to start up and run than any Chrome OS. So it’s possible that only high-end Chromebooks, like the Pixelbook, would be able to meet that OS standard.
Should I just get a laptop that runs Windows?
That depends on a number of things. Google’s Chromebook line is a useful group of computers that work well with the Chrome browser and are great for using for Chrome-based tasks like checking email, writing documents, and watching shows and movies on Netflix and Disney+.
Is it possible to put macOS on a Chromebook?
Yes! Some Linux console questions are used, which is similar to how you’d run Windows on a Chromebook. Check out this Chrome Unboxed piece for full steps.
