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Installing Linux on a Chromebook

A guide on how to install Linux on a Chromebook via Mr. Chromebox firmware

12/11/23 - 1027 words
As this guide requires modifying your system's firmware, there is a non-zero chance that you will brick your device,
requiring an external programmer to recover. Proceed at your own risk!
The instructions in this article have only been followed on devices with the CR50
firmware locking method; anything else is untested, please report issues following this guide
in the issues section of the Github repo
By following this guide, you will likely void your device's warranty.

Why

There are many reasons why one may want to install Linux on a Chromebook, here are some of the most common:

I did it for all of the above reasons

Step 1: install Mr. Chromebox firmware

The method used in this guide will be flashing Mr. Chromebox firmware.
This method has some downsides, such as certain device functions not working correctly on some hardware, but I'm going with it because the actual OS installation is much more convenient than Depthboot.
This guide assumes that you have already enabled Developer mode and have some familarity with UNIX/Linux commands

Checking flashing requirements

The first step to flashing cfw is to determine whether or not your device is supported and what you have to do to disable it.
Consult Mr. Chromebox's chart to determine whether your device is supported. If your device is supported, note the write protect method for use in the next section

Disabling hardware write-protect

If your device is supported, go to section for its write protect method below

Screw

Steps:

  1. Disassemble the machine
  2. Find the write-protect screw following the diagram below (credit: memcpy.io) and remove it
  3. Re-assemble the machine
an image of a disassembled Chromebook with an arrow pointing to the write-protect screw on the left side of the battery

CR50 (battery)

This method requires access to a power supply in order to run the device without a battery. Steps:

  1. Disassemble the machine
  2. Find the battery connector and disconnect it
  3. Flash the custom firmware
  4. Re-assemble the machine

CR50 (jumper)

This method requires more research and skill, as you need to figure out which jumper to bridge and how to bridge it, with the easiest method being a short wire soldered to the board. Steps:

  1. Disassemble the machine
  2. Find and jump the required contacts
  3. Re-assemble the machine

Flashing the firmware

Now that the hardware write-protect has been disabled, we can move on to flashing the firmware itself. This process is fairly painless and just requires a stable power supply and a bit of time. Run the following commands in VT2 by pressing ctrl+alt+right arrow (ctrl+alt+left arrow to get back) with login chronos:


Change directory into Downloads
cd ~/Downloads
Download the script
curl -LO https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh
Run the script as root
sudo bash firmware-util.sh
Select option 2 (it should be "Install/Update UEFI (Full ROM) Firmware")
You should see
Install/Update UEFI Full ROM Firmware
along with the following info message:
IMPORTANT: flashing the firmware has the potential to brick your device,
requiring relatively inexpensive hardware and some technical knowledge to
recover.Not all boards can be tested prior to release, and even then slight
differences in hardware can lead to unforeseen failures.
If you don't have the ability to recover from a bad flash, you're taking a risk.

You have been warned.
At the prompt, press y to continue.
If you see the error
Hardware write-protect enabled, cannot flash Full ROM firmware.
then you failed to disable write protect, refer here.
It will then warn you that you should install a UEFI-compatible OS:
NOTE: After flashing UEFI firmware, you will need to install a UEFI-compatible
OS; ChromeOS will no longer be bootable. See https://mrchromebox.tech/#faq
press y to continue.
If you see the following warning, I advise that you do not continue
NOTE: Booting from eMMC on AMD Picasso-based devices does not currently work --
only NVMe, SD and USB. If you have a device with eMMC storage you will not be
able to boot from it after installing the UEFI Full ROM firmware."
Next, it will ask you to make a backup of your firmware. I would personally do this just to upload it to the Internet Archive, but you don't have to.
Create a backup copy of your stock firmware?

This is highly recommended in case you wish to return your device to stock
configuration/run ChromeOS, or in the (unlikely) event that things go south
and you need to recover using an external EEPROM programmer.
It will then download the firmware file:
Downloading Full ROM firmware
After this is finished downloading, it may display a couple irrelevant info messages.
It will then disable the software write protect.
This shouldn't fail
Disabling software write-protect and clearing the WP range
After that it should start installing the firmware.
If the power disconnects while this is happening, your device will be bricked and you will have to use an external programmer to recover
Installing Full ROM firmware (may take up to 90s)
After that's finished, congratulations, you have a Corebooted Chromebook!
Don't reboot until you flash a USB drive with the installation medium of your choosing.

Step 2: Installing Linux

In case you forgot the basic flashing procedure, here it is:

  1. Download the ISO
  2. Verify the checksum (usually using sha256sum)
  3. Run the following command:
    sudo dd if=example.iso of=/dev/sd[highest letter] bs=4096 status=progress
  4. Reboot

$ find -name author

ERROR 404: NULL NOT FOUND
Programmer, hacker, BSD user, FOSS believer

$ grep "licensing"