How to Install Chrome OS Flex: Make an Old PC New Again

In this step-by-step tutorial, learn how to install Google Chrome OS Flex on your old laptop or desktop PC. Flex is a distribution of Chrome OS that can be installed on conventional PC hardware to replace other operating systems such as Windows. It's a Linux based operating system that uses a web browser as its main user interface. Since most of the applications are web based, it works really well even on older computers.
👋 Additional resources
- Differences between Chrome OS and Flex: support.google.com/chromeosfl...
- Chromebook Recovery Utility: chrome.google.com/webstore/de...
- Official Installation Guide: support.google.com/chromeosfl...
⌚ Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:29 What is Chrome OS Flex?
1:19 How to get it & min system requirements
1:58 Create USB installer
3:04 Remove installation media
3:30 Boot from installation media
4:09 Try it first or install Flex
4:52 Wrap up
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#stratvert

[@KevinStratvert]

For the install, you have two options: (1) You can "Try it out first", which allows you to evaluate Chrome OS Flex. This does not affect your existing operating system or files. (2) You can also install CloudReady, which installs Chrome OS Flex. This will erase any existing files and operating system on your hard drive. If you decide to install, make sure that you have backed up any critical files that you want to keep.

[@katta6515]

How to make wallpaper images in pinterest? What is the software use to crate these images?

[@tulenhansdak76]

Day 6 Make a video about NFT plese

[@matthewn2559]

Can you please do a video in which you save a complete webpage but then run that webpage without the internet. (if this is possible)? I have downloaded somehow two webpages which allow me to use the page just like being on the internet (click hyperlinks etc). Not sure how I did it but there are a couple of webpages I use for research that I want to download just in case they go offline. I have tried this lately and when I go to open the Web page complete I just have a listing of the various files but I can't get the webpage to function. I use Windows 10. Love your videos Kevin.

[@dogtrainer5049]

When I boot USB it is stuck on the white chrome screen

[@itsmetarak9472]

Trail from USB went well but after that i install that to my laptop the chrome logo appear and it struck for hours plzzz any solution for this....

[@somewhereinchina4976]

Dear Kevin, I hope you get to read this message. I'm 52 years old nd a lady at that. I followed your instructions to the Tee and I have an old new laptop! Thanks a million. It is working like a charm and my husband couldn't believe his eyes!!!!

[@tubedataworkshop9776]

This is an excellent option for when you have an old laptop laying around which has not been touched in a few years and you want to use it again! Great video, Kevin! This video is worth saving!

[@endezeichengrimm]

Zorin OS lite is much better.

[@srowley85]

Even in this day and age, I still run across people who are in need of a computer for internet access. This offers another reasonable option for repurposing older equipment that could then be donated to someone in need. I think the Chrome OS is more intuitive and less daunting than many flavors of Linux, so I’m glad to see this option become available.

[@smgsngon5804]

i agree , anybody that can use a phone can use a chromebook as opposed to a windows machine and god forbid a linux distro.

[@bhanwarsinghchauhan1794]

does it effect files on other local disks

[@haywiremechanic]

Clear and easy to follow instructions without a bunch of useless fluff. Thanks, Kevin.

[@fredydp88]

Agree

[@Zzzz99599]

So good, I'm trying to decide if he's AI.

[@edwardgiorgio2904]

Thank you for all your information. I had two old laptops collecting dust. With your help I was able to get them up and running with the usb drive you showed me how to create.

[@philipossowski5035]

Thanks Kevin, I used your video to repurpose 2 of my old laptops, one which was still running Windows 7, into functional machines that now serve as home school work stations for my grandchildren.

[@LambdaMiscellaneous]

bad idea. windows 7 is still relatively fast, and chromeos can't... do much.

[@deanstyles2567]

@@LambdaMiscellaneousTwo words: Security updates. Using Windows 7 online these days is risky.

[@williamfame4261]

This OS really made my old computer much faster and stable than before, thanks for sharing this knowledge.

[@TheLorcaaa]

Among the very best organized videos I ever see, very educative and helpful, Many thanks

[@_w_w_]

It's really should be called "making a Windows PC useful again..."

[@EduardoBicelisGarcia]

Agree!

[@skrayen1241]

Yea! It could also be "How to turn Burnt trash into gold"

[@alouchebelhadri3784]

True.. 😅

[@Gamerboying]

Yea😊

[@HonkyEatsVegan]

"We will make Windows PC great again"

[@Lost_in_madness]

This is by far the best toturial I've watched. Thank You.

[@uwu_unknown79]

dude honestly the nicest thing you put in the video was what key to use to get to bios depending on the brand seriously thank you so much

[@victorhurtadovhi.t.solutio4784]

Hi Kevin, Thank you for sharing your knowledge, and thank you for another great video!!!

[@reemasingh2029]

Thanks for sharing this info about Google Chrome OD Flex, I have installed and am happy with the interface. Looking forward to the best.

[@KevinStratvert]

Great to hear!

[@imadzakharia]

Very clear and useful explanation as usual!

[@stev_k_ontheTube]

My man! Seems like every time I turn to YT for a "How-To" video, my man Kevin has what I need!👍😎👍

[@vishalchandanshiv1155]

This is called luck - yesterday I am finding this option on youtube and today my favourite KZbin host upload the video of this one 😊☺️

[@Green_House]

Downloaded, installed and worked just like you said! 🙂 Many thanks!!! The only additional thing I did was to swap the original HDD with a spare one I had before installing Flex. This will make going back to Windows 10 a snap - that is if I decide to. 🤔

[@sohailahmed-to1yv]

Thank you so much Buddy I was finally able to install the flex smoothly with the help of your video 👍🏻

[@millermullins3955]

Excellent step by step guide 👏.

[@notziz]

This is extremely helpful. I have an old ASUS Laptop which I rarely use anymore because it's laggy and the left hinge is completely broken so the screen is all floppy. But after hearing about ChromeOS Flex and have been using it before on my school-issued Chromebook, I decided I would install it since it seems like a good option. Thank you for this tutorial. You explain each step nicely while giving actual demonstrations, and it's perfect for people like me who have no idea on how to do stuff like this.

[@DanielVanZant]

Excellent tutorial. Very clear and easy to follow. I'm not 100% sure Kevin is not a bot. Are you a tutorial bot? Great Job!

[@AM-Boluke1210]

😅

[@KennyAndVeronica]

I was wondering the same thing! It's crazy now with all this A.I. not knowing if someone is a real human or a bot. Never thought I'd have to wonder about that.

[@hrfriends3705]

This video allowed me to upgrade from CloudReady to Chrome OS Flex. Thank you!

[@CricketVP66]

Hey Kevin. Really like the whole idea just have a question. Does the Chrome OS Flex still work of the USB is taken out or unplugged

[@CheamCreese]

Since you specifically mentioned that app stores aren't available, it would probably have been a good idea to briefly mention what you can actually do with Chrome OS Flex once it is installed. What apps come with it, in other words?

[@KevinStratvert]

Maybe try another USB stick or SD card. Some people have had success using other media.

[@izzurumusic]

web based apps... maybe,,

[@itsmetarak9472]

@@KevinStratvert Trail from USB went well but after that i install that to my laptop the chrome logo appear and it struck for hours plzzz any solution for this....

[@knightgamer-rx8082]

​@@itsmetarak9472yep mine took 2hours but it turned on shortly

[@Sameer_Jawa31]

Great video I’ll install it on my HP Pavilion laptop that way it runs more smoothly and is easier to work with.

[@TheJmcraezy]

How does it do on your Pavilion? I have the same and thinking of doing this.

[@kadirrangwala]

Thank you for clear step by step instructions. I find your voice super soothing...

[@azad5932]

Thanks for making it easy. I have been contemplating installing Flex on an old laptop.

[@peterchancal]

Kevin, you'd missed out a major point. Your old notebook or computer has to support EUFI instead of CHS for hard drive.

[@iandawkins2182]

Could this be installed as a dual boot option with Windows, if so a video would be a real winner. Thanks for your content I have learned so much from you.

[@aoitsukishiro9926]

Majority Linux distro could dual boot with Windows

[@NarendraU23]

I've tried it and it doesn't support dual boot. It'll wipe your drive if you install it.

[@dr8vencastro417]

@@NarendraU23 you can do it but it's not worth the trouble. Install chrome flex os first, install windows (separate partition) and finally since they dont play nice you'll need to use a boot manager and configure it..too much trouble 😩

[@akstream8755]

@@NarendraU23 Yes, u can do it.. I am using it now with windows 11 as dual boot

[@NarendraU23]

@@akstream8755 Do you mind telling how? Is there an option to configure partition or something?

[@hishmahameedkadampaly2491]

Thank you Kevin for a detailed clarification given in the video 😊

[@aliikhlaq]

This is my first view at your channel and you are great in explaining things Kudos

[@shuttlepodone1707]

Smart move by Google! I installed Chrome Flex on one of my old laptops with a spinning hard drive and 4GB of RAM. It made the laptop new again and is surprisingly fast even on boot up. I had been running Ubuntu on it but that was getting slow. Before Ubuntu Windows 10 was about a 10 minute log on and updates took forever.

[@VideoNOLA]

Without access to Google Play Store, how does one install apps under Flex?

[@freedhoelay5953]

@@VideoNOLA Probably just browser functionality.

[@smgsngon5804]

Yes i think this will beat the pants off Linux distros . Google first beat Apple at its own game now going after Microsoft for fumbling the ball (making perfectly good hardware obsolete.). I would like to see what the Xeon processor can do with this OS

[@naveenbinapalli3934]

is files deleted

[@djpjrn]

its is just for surfing the web and watching video on YT, without PLAY, nothing else you can do about this OS

[@cold1584]

I have 2 old DELL laptops at home. Did plan on selling it cus it was basically useless but after watching this video I'm changing my mind

[@notsowimpycoder3113]

I also have an old Dell. Please do reply after installing chrome flex, would help me decide what to do, whether to select chrome flex or go for Linux distro.

[@KiryuuKazama]

@@notsowimpycoder3113 Better stick to linux considering that OS Flex doesn't have an appstore and it's a pain and hussle to install linux apps on OS flex itself.

[@cold1584]

@@notsowimpycoder3113 flex is kinda decent, I'm not used to linux so idk. But ngl it does made the laptop faster

[@machdaddy6451]

Thanks so much! I have been trying for a long time to find an easy way to install the Chrome OS on a PC. I finally came the conclusion that the Chrome OS was not for "open" use and gave up. I ended up installing Chromixium.

[@nicktender]

*Great content, dude! You rock!!*

[@bmo3778]

Kevin, I'm scared. You literally read my mind. I was actually planning to try Chrome OS tomorrow.

[@KevinStratvert]

🤖

[@redhed1713]

Another good video, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I will try it out. :-) However, I think more emphasis should have been placed on the fact that everything on the computer would be erased if one went through with the full OS replacement. That is something the non techy may not understand fully, and a lot of heartache could result from going through with this without that being very very clear. ;-)

[@YT4Me57]

Wow!

[@BubbaSmurft]

He was crystal clear about that. Did you watch a different version of this video?

[@redhed1713]

@@BubbaSmurft He mentioned it, but not the total ramifications of doing it imho. I work with people who sometimes have little to no IT knowledge, and you need to make it very clear about something that could have this serious of effect of losing everything on a computer. Documents gone is one thing, but videos and pictures of loved ones gone forever, and that could turn nasty very quickly. But you disagree, and that is fine. :-) Just didn't want this to come back and bite Kevin on the a**e, because I like what he does.

[@BubbaSmurft]

@@redhed1713 What part of "... this will wipe out everything on my hard drive." is unclear? (04:30)

[@KevinStratvert]

Thanks for the feedback. I've added a pinned disclaimer to the top of the video to make sure this is clear: "For the install, you have two options: (1) You can "Try it out first", which allows you to evaluate Chrome OS Flex. This does not affect your existing operating system or files. (2) You can also install CloudReady, which installs Chrome OS Flex. This will erase any existing files and operating system on your hard drive. If you decide to install, make sure that you have backed up any critical files that you want to keep."

[@MrPhelord]

thank you, kevin. for the simply and informative guideline.

[@condypastolero7903]

hi kevin, thanks for sharing your knowledge, we may not know each other peronally but your videos really helped me a lot.

[@Antietam22]

Great presentation. A question: How does the Chrome OS system handle viruses, malware, etc?

[@AaronTechnic]

It doesn't. Chrome OS Flex is based on a Linux system called Gentoo, and since the usage share for Linux is low (although very high in servers), the viruses for Linux systems are quite low. As a result Chrome OS Flex is less prone to viruses. If there were Chrome OS viruses, I'm pretty sure the built in security system will defend.

[@Antietam22]

@@AaronTechnic Thank you so much. This is very helpful.

[@AaronTechnic]

@@Antietam22 You're welcome. Glad to help.

[@ebachy]

Thanks! Clear and to the point! Someone may have asked, but could I use this on a Chromebook that is "past its service updates"? Do you know why Chrome OS would even discontinue updating older Chromebooks? How can I tell if my current Chromebook meets the specs noted at the start of your video? Cheers! Keep up the great work!

[@JustinMyers]

yes you can! I recently installed Cloud Ready 2.0/Flex on a chromebox that was expired. I had to go into developer mode on the chromebox and install mrchromebox firmware-util. that allowed me to install the Flex OS!

[@ebachy]

@@JustinMyers Guess one needs to be more techie than me to envision that! Is there a good tutorial or video?

[@JustinMyers]

@@ebachy I followed write-ups found on the internet...since it was my first time getting into developer mode; I got a little frustrated....however, Once I figured it out, it went pretty smoothly. so, yes it's harder than this video but I was able to do it

[@ebachy]

@Justin Myers point of clarification: is "chromebox" just another term for a computer running Chrome OS, or is it a special device? If this is readily doable, I am surprised Google hasn't provided a path/support/etc. I suppose they prefer you use updated hardware to minimize issues and paint a really positive image for Chrome OS and now Chrome OS Flex.

[@JustinMyers]

@@ebachy chromebox is like a chromebook, except desktop version. like your chromebook, my chromebox was past it's service updates since 2019

[@mjchesher2103]

Hello! I enjoyed the video. Do you know why it doesn't work when you install it with CloudReady? It's frustrating whether my laptop model doesn't support it.

[@slogadin]

Thanks for the tutorial :)

[@lenpfluger3356]

I have tried this several times on two different old computers and I never get past creating a USB installer. All it does is partition my flash drive and make the flash drive useless. This looks SO easy and I'm not computer illiterate (or at least I didn't think I was), but for some reason, it just doesn't work for me.

[@Rockden]

Same here, the USB stick is now useless and when I plug it in it shows like 12 partitions or something.

[@smgsngon5804]

nothing in computers is guaranteed

[@Rockden]

Update: still doesn't work, but if you plug in your usb and go to the chrome os recovery tool, you can revert the usb to how it was before!

[@svdm007]

Great video of a useful invention. Tried it out immediately on my 2010 Macbook, which meets the Chrome OS Flex specs. However, after installation the Chrome splash screen hangs. Therefore, I would be cautious about jumping in now. @Kevin - Might be worth emphasising a bit more that this software is really in its infancy and what developer mode actually means.

[@Weeeeebadminton]

same in here, I got stuck in "Connect to network" page after boot to chromeOS, it wouldn't let me proceed to anything

[@infinity12940]

I tried it on my garbage windows 8 computer

[@iperky]

thanks! first video that actually helps

[@HowToChromeOS.]

This made my PC from 2012 from so slow to blazing fast,Thanks Kevin

[@skrayen1241]

This sounds really great but every time I try to download the installation media it keeps on saying "Download interrupted. Try again." I have tried 4 times but nothing seems to help. I am also doing this on an SD card. A video on how to fix this would be great!

[@Queenbala1]

I’m having the same issue!

[@NormanF62]

I wouldn’t recommend it until Google adds support for the Google Play Store and Android apps.

[@amyjojinkerson5668]

Thanks Kevin I fallowed your steps and it worked out great

[@stephenheinzmann7648]

Great video, very helpful!

[@namechangeable]

Best video I found. 2nd times the charm I guess. Thanks mate ❤

[@anonymouslt2811]

Probably best OS installer totorial I ever seen with such video quality people would think I paid just to watch this video its unreal something you would find on blueray disk included with computer you purchased wtf

[@danielvelezsalazar9424]

Hi kevin, thanks for the explanation, but, is there a way to download the image before installing it,? In my case would be very useful because I have a very slow conection. Regards.

[@alanthomas110]

Replying to your question at the end of the video. I don't care about the flex OS now. Your presentation is on another level bro and this video is soooo clean. Subscribed already....

[@wolfsneverland6232]

Thanks man i really needed that help 👍👍👍

[@leonardpeposhi5154]

Hi Kevin, I find your videos very helpful, I would like to know how to resize multiple photos at once on windows.

[@cpoulios]

Thank you. Very helpful!

[@corazon2919]

Pls help me after clicking boot menu in lenovo ideapad the chrome logo is showing but after that the sceen is showing nothing its complete black ?? And theres no progress after that ??

[@g00gl]

Thank you for symbolize the steps to download it very clear

[@carfreak1234]

thanks for the Video Kevin, i've subscribed to your channel , and can't wait to test it out sooon

[@ganeshdhuri]

Hey Kevin how you have recorded the DOS screen, it will be a great cause I will be trying to make same video manual for my organization

[@lse123polis]

Google Chrome OS Flex INSTALLER can set in a DVD R DL, in case the old PC boots only from DVD....?

[@NaniQB]

Great tutorial, @KevinStratvert. Just like this process for installing it, is there an established method to uninstall ChromeOS Flex? Assuming original HDD files are saved, so that isn't an issue. Google's help pages simply say that installing another OS should remove Flex, without providing any more detail.

[@Simon-iw3od]

Thanks, man! Love the quality of the video and the way you share this information. Btw, you remind me of Stiffler, the guy from American Pie 😆 Have a great day ✌️

[@allenellisdewitt]

I hadn't seen the "Google Chrome OS Flex", thank you!

[@Asutosa]

Excellent video, I love this type of creators....😊😊

[@fadi1010able]

Thank you so much you have really encouraged me to install it !!

[@edwinitpro365]

Thank you for all your information.

[@Chiru_op]

thanks buddy it really helped me alot

[@m_who8471]

You explained things so easily..... Thanks for the video..... And best wishes for you...

[@tameruykal]

Hi Kevin, Chrome OS Flex has a list of Models that it was certified. Acer Aspire E3-111 is one of them but not Acer Aspire E15-575 that I am currently using. Do you think this would be a serious problem for me?

[@orangeclaw]

Thanks for this video Kevin, I downloaded Chrome Flex to USB stick and I'm trying to boot it up to an old Dell XPS but when I boot from F12 the keyboard is not working ...the Enter key is but I cannot scroll the options. Any ideas? thanks, Kiel.

[@user-yk2ir1qt9s]

Thank you so much! I was so frustrated trying to install this and the answer was in your video! I didn't know what to pick when it asked for the maker and model. I didn't know to choose OS Flex. Thank you again!

[@AdLast]

Use a other. This is trash

[@tanusreesharma1467]

Hi.. how to merge multiple column into a single column with descending/ ascending order. For Eg. Column A, B,C has 5,9,3 & I want to put the data in column D in descending order like 953… plse help me out.

[@sayanchakraborty9659]

Will this installation clean the entire 1 TB hard disk it is installed in or the portion only allocated to c drive only, please help

[@welbster4924]

A very lagy old laptop is working a lot better now. Thank you.

[@jansen_vlog]

Hi, will delete all your stored data when you switch to Chrome OS?

[@talhainamulhaq2643]

should the USB be empty before downloading in the chrome os installer??? please help erase existing files means all downloads and bookmarks too??? someone kindly answer can we use yt on it if no android app can be download???

[@dansu3135]

Great, thank you so much ! works great even on a desktop.

[@andrewtsang805]

I have a Dell lnspiron 15, so follow your instructions to the point. When l restart my Dell and press and held F12 the Boot mode. In the UEFI OPTION, it does not show my USB option. Can you find?

[@shashirajusiddaraju4979]

Wow very useful information 👌

[@sandponics]

I have a Mac Pro that only cost $120 including the full Adobe 3 suit and a huge Mac monitor. The machine is great for my graphics needs, but finding browsers that will run on OS X is an issue. If I use Chrome OS Flex for browsing, would I be able to switch between that and the Mac OS X system fairly easily, or would I need to restart the machine each time I wanted to switch?

[@someguy2800]

Hello, can you install other softwares on chrome os flex like Microsoft office or adobe Photoshop?

[@malinwj1167]

Is there a way to perform a "Restart" with this OS? Got it to install on my Dell Latitude 7280 laptop, but there is only a shutdown command

[@abhinavs2484]

Hey Kevin, I have installed chrome OS flex in my windows machine and now I want to switch back to windows OS(10). How can I do that????? pls help!! searching for this solution from past 2 days

[@yl3629]

does it have issues with printers? I'm thinking of installing this on an older laptop running Ubuntu 20.04, but I've had some pretty bad experiences with not being able to install the correct drivers, and MISC CUPS issues. Don't want to run into the same stuff if both based off Linux

[@sangeetsurya2084]

Do I need to get a backup of my movies and photos stored in the laptop...Or this installation doesn't affect the files in the drives? I thought of moving to Crome OS permanently

[@celestemiller2222]

@Kevin Stratvert: Is there any way to install this on a rockchip equipped machine? I have an old Asus C201 and the last supported version of ChromOS was 84. I want to keep using it cause it works SUPER well still, but just needs an alternative ChromeOS install. Can ChromeOS Flex work on rockchip, or am I stuck using something hungrier/uglier like a linux distro?

[@carlgoranheintz3914]

This is actually being sustainable. At least for me, often time I do not need a high spec computer but I enjoy having something swift. I realised only in 2022-23 that simplier systems such as android now runs a lot smoother than win11.

[@yanike]

I using CloudReady now on my main computer and it's awesome!

[@mickebjo]

Thank you nice and well made video!

[@marcfinkelstein7548]

hello there, i wonder if you can help me out. i have a acer aspire e15 laptop. i followed your instructions exactly on how to change it to a chromebook. everything works great. except it only works with the usb left inserted. if i remove the usb and restart the computer i get a message no bootable device. i used a kingston 32gb usb. any thoughts or help would be appreciated

[@dokumentusiuntimas]

Hi, have a question. Installed chrome os flex, on win10 pc, taked to try chrome os. After restar pc it started windows, how to start chrome on startup?

[@theoffsideartist]

Great job 👍🏻

[@faraz_qasim]

hi @kevin, I wanted to reinstall windows ont he laptop after installing chrome flex, but I am not able to as the Harddrive format is not acceptable by the windows installer.. can you please tell me how windows can be installed on the laptop now?

[@malcolmkenward2663]

Downloading to USB stick on Windows I get a User Account Control message - do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device. What should one do?

[@tonyn3227]

if you install chrome flex on your old windows 10 computer. are you able to still use it as regular computer, like downloading programs, doing your turbo tax , or basically it becomes like a tablet now.

[@waleeddj2730]

i need help i install chrome os when is finish installing is say it well reboot but after reboot i get stuck at the white screen with google logo ?