Difference between revisions of "Installing"

Revision as of 03:15, 4 December 2015

You have two possible options for installing GalliumOS:

1. From an ISO image written to USB drive or SD card
   This method works on most devices, and enables you to entirely replace ChromeOS on your internal SSD or HDD.
   It also allows you to set up more complex configurations such as dual-booting alongside Windows or other Linux distributions.
2. From the ChromeOS command-line
   This method works on many devices, and will configure your device to dual-boot GalliumOS alongside ChromeOS.

See Hardware Compatibility for the installation options available for your ChromeOS device model.

Traditional ISO Install

The traditional installer allows you to use your entire SSD or HDD for GalliumOS. You will need to use a USB flash drive or SD card. You can even boot the GalliumOS Live image to try out the features of GalliumOS before you decide to install!

1. Go to Preparing for GalliumOS and get your Chromebook ready to run GalliumOS.
2. Download a GalliumOS ISO from the downloads page on GalliumOS.org
3. Write (or "burn") the ISO to a USB flash drive or an SD card. Detailed instructions for this are at Making GalliumOS Bootable Media
4. Plug your USB flash drive or SD card into your Chromebook
5. Reboot your Chromebook and boot from the USB flash drive or SD card.
   1. If you have installed custom firmware, press Esc at the BIOS screen and press 2 to boot from USB.
   2. If you have the scary white screen, press Ctrl+L.
6. Wait for GalliumOS to boot up. Once in the live environment you can play around with GalliumOS, or you can install it using the Install GalliumOS icon on the desktop.

Command-line Installation

GalliumOS is also installable on many ChromeOS devices via chrx, which allows you to dual-boot GalliumOS alongside ChromeOS. Check the chrx hardware compatibility list to see if your device supports chrx, and whether any preparation steps are required.

See chrx installation instructions for full details, but here's a quick overview:

1. Prepare your ChromeOS device
   1. Enable Developer Mode
   2. Install firmware feature update if required (some Broadwell devices only)
2. Boot device into ChromeOS and configure networking; you do not need to log in
3. Switch to a virtual terminal by pressing CTRL+ALT+F2(top row right arrow), then log in as user chronos with no password
4. Run chrx: curl -O https://chrx.org/go && sh go -d galliumos (see chrx docs for additional options)
5. Follow on-screen prompts to repartition your SSD and install GalliumOS. If this is the first time running chrx on this ChromeOS machine, chrx will reboot after the partitioning step and you will need to continue the installation by running chrx again with the same command line.
6. After reboot, at the white "OS verification is OFF" screen, press CTRL+L for GalliumOS, or CTRL+D for ChromeOS