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EST. 2009  ·  THE BROWSER BROADSHEET  ·  EVERY FIX VERIFIED ON THE CURRENT BUILD
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How to Enter Developer Mode on a Chromebook

Want more control over your Chromebook? Here’s how to enter and exit Developer Mode, and why it wipes your local files each time.

Dinsan Avatar
Dinsan

Developer mode unlocks deeper Chromebook customization, like installing Linux distros or testing system-level changes. Here’s how to turn it on.

Warning: Entering Developer Mode performs a factory reset and deletes all local files and settings on your Chromebook. Back up anything in your Downloads folder before continuing. Files stored in Google Drive are not affected.

How to Enter Developer Mode

  1. Turn off your Chromebook.
  2. Hold Esc and Refresh, then press the Power button to enter Recovery mode.
  3. At the Recovery screen, press Ctrl+D. There’s no visible prompt, so just press it.
  4. Confirm when asked, then wait for your Chromebook to reboot into Developer Mode.

How to Leave Developer Mode

  1. At the scary boot screen that appears every startup in Developer Mode, follow the on-screen instructions to turn it off.
  2. Confirm when prompted. This also performs another factory reset.

Quick Tips

  • The exact key combination can vary slightly on convertible and tablet-style Chromebooks, where Refresh may be a different physical key.
  • Developer Mode also disables some of ChromeOS’s built-in security protections, so only use it if you understand the trade-off.

Developer Mode opens the door to a lot more control over your Chromebook, just remember it starts with a clean slate.

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Dinsan Avatar
Dinsan
Dinsan Francis is the founder of Chrome Story, which he started in 2009 — the same year Google launched Chrome. He has covered the Chrome browser and Chromebook ecosystem for over 15 years and has used Chromebooks as his primary computing device since 2010. He’s always on the bleeding edge, running the Canary build of both Chrome and ChromeOS as daily drivers.

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6 responses to “How to Enter Developer Mode on a Chromebook”

  1. AJ Avatar
    AJ

    Did you even try it? These instructions don’t work.

    Reply
    1. Dinu Avatar
      Dinu

      No, I do not have an ARM Chromebook to try. Sorry.
      If you find the correct way to do this, please add it in the comments.

      Reply
  2. jim Vyse Avatar
    jim Vyse

    I really do need to get into dev mode – I’ve tried the instructions that don’t work – does anyone know the correct procedure?

    Reply
    1. Dinu Avatar
      Dinu

      I have updated the post with info from the project page.. can you check now?

      Reply
  3. samir Avatar
    samir

    Hi, I can’t get my chromebook into the recovery screen let alone developer mode. I’ve followed the instruction, “Hold esc…” but nothing. Any help?

    Reply
  4. xDiiThy@GamerzElite Avatar
    xDiiThy@GamerzElite

    Just Reboots on Toshiba Chromebook 2

    Reply

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