How To Enable Crostini In Chromebook

What is Crostini?

According to Google,  Crostini is the umbrella term for making Linux application support easy to use and integrates well with Chrome OS. It largely focuses on getting you a Terminal with a container with easy access to install whatever developer-focused tools you might want.

How To Setup Crostini In Chromebook

Firstly you’ve obtained a crostini enabled device such as Acer Chromebook 15 (CB3-532), Asus Chromebook Flip C101PA etc. Here is the list of all Chromebook laptops that come with built-in crostini support.

Follow the below-given steps to quickstart crostini on Chromebook-

• You will need an internet connection as Crostini elements are downloaded from online
• Change to the dev or beta channel (as of R69 the stable channel is also accurate)
• You do not need to put it into developer mode. Enable support
• Some devices need to enable chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-crostini-ui
• Go to Chrome OS settings and Scroll down to “Linux (Beta)” and Turn it on.
• Open the App switcher (press the Search/Launcher buttons) and then type “Terminal”
• Launch the Terminal app.

So now you’ve Chrome OS hosting a terminal virtual machine now you can start installing the software through package management tools.

How To Reset Crostini Back To Default 

If using crostini first time then it’s especially for you to know how you can reset crostini back to the default mode. Most importantly, you must know below given methods are destructive and will cause anything in your Crostini container such as downloaded files or folder etc. 

Make sure you create a backup of the container before resetting the crostini back to default.

Now, follow the below steps to set crostini as default on your Chromebook.

• Go to Chrome OS settings
• Scroll down to “Linux (Beta)”
• Select it and then select “Remove Linux Apps from Chromebook”
• Confirm by selecting “Delete”
• Crostini should now be disabled
• Follow the above Quickstart steps to re-enable