Chrome Story

How to Use Linux Apps on Chromebook

It is a Chrome Story tradition to publish “How To” articles well before a feature is available to everyone. Today we are going to take a look at how to enable Linux apps on Chrome OS.

Note: This is currently available in Chrome OS Canary channel, with Dev mode on, and the flag “#enable-experimental-crostini-ui” enabled. I am using a Pixelbook. This may not be available for other Chromebooks yet.

Enabling Linux Apps on Chrome OS

When this feature is available in Chrome OS, you will see a new section under Settings called “Linux Apps:

When you click this, you will see the Linux Apps section of Chrome OS settings. Click Turn on to enable Linux apps.

You will now see a prompt to install Terminal for Chromebook. Click Install.

Chrome OS will now download and install the Terminal app. This might take a minute or two depending on your connection speed. The download size is 200 MB.

After the download is complete, you will see the Linux Terminal app.

If you are a Linux enthusiast, you will know what to do from here! Here is a useful resource from About Chromebooks, explaining how to play around with Linux apps on Chrome OS.

I’ll update this article as Google makes progress on Linux apps on Chrome OS. Stay subscribed.

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5 responses to “How to Use Linux Apps on Chromebook”

  1. g2-6e22373b1ea1a7e0cede9ddd8987ee43
    Matt

    Uh…Can you please add that this is only available on PixelBook Chromebooks, Currently your article is quite misleading.

    Reply
    1. Dinsan – Bangalore, India – Digital Minimalist & Content Developer. Drinks Tea and writes Stuff (mostly about Chromebooks). My views are mostly copied from others.
      Dinsan

      Makes sense, updated.

      Reply
  2. Jim

    Have you been able to make this work on any Chromebooks other than a Pixelbook?

    Reply
    1. Dinsan – Bangalore, India – Digital Minimalist & Content Developer. Drinks Tea and writes Stuff (mostly about Chromebooks). My views are mostly copied from others.
      Dinsan

      No, only on Pixelbook.

      Reply
      1. Jim

        It’s interesting that this seems to be in version 68 on the Pixelbook (now in Dev Channel) and all the bits are there for this in version 68 (Canary on my Acer R11), but it’s blocked from working on the R11 as of right now, even with the right flags. It does look like this is going to be on other devices than the Pixelbook and we could see some pretty cool announcements next week at I/O!

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