Google’s Chromebooks Can Now Run Linux In A Window

Nicholas Kamanzi December 31, 2014

Less than a minute

Chromebook users can now run their favorite Linux distribution within a window right on their Chrome OS desktop. Google evangelist François Beaufort revealed with a Google+ post Tuesday that Chromebook oners who have set their device in developer mode can download specialCrouton Chrome extension to run Linux without being forced to switch back and forth between the two operating systems.

Running Linux on a Chromebook is not a new thing. Chrome OS is based on the Linux kernel, and there are a number of ways to run both Chrome OS and Linux on the device. My colleague Kevin Tofel highlighted three ways of accessing Linux (and other operating systems as well) a while back, and he even recorded a video of using Crouton to run Chrome OS and Linux simultaneously, which you can watch below. However, the new Crouton Chrome extension makes it possible for the first time to run Linux in a window.