What is Chrome OS?

Google chrome OS is a Web/Cloud based operating system which is based on Ubuntu. No prizes for guessing that it is a Google product. It includes the unique feature to access your Chrome OS from any chrome books. As said, it is a cloud based OS that can be accessed from any other computer. It is (somewhat) like log in to your Gmail account, your account remain the same irrespective of the computer you are accessing it from. In case of Chrome OS, you access a whole operating system, instead of Gmail account, from anywhere.

 (laptops with Chrome OS on it) come with pre-installed Chrome OS. You can buy Chromebooks from Samsung or Acer. But just for using Chrome OS, you don’t need to buy a new Chromebook. You can install the PC version of Chrome OS (an emulator actually) to get the feel of this new operating system on your Windows PC or Linux

Install Chrome OS:

1. Download either of Lime or Vanilla

Developers of these emulators claimed that Lime is more advanced than vanilla, but unfortunately it doesnt work. Vanila  is working. Both have size 280MB or less, download both files and try it. After downloading extract it and you will get a .img file with size 1.91 GB.

3. Insert a USB key. Open your Imagewriter , select image file and choose the USB drive. Click on write and wait until it finishes. Now the Chrome OS is on your USB key.

4. Reboot your system

5. Select USB drive from the Boot option ( F10/F12 – it depends on your computer)

You will get 5 options , don’t do anything, just wait and it will automatically select.

Chrome OS may take 2-3 minutes (since it is running from USB). First you will see a white desktop with chrome logo. Next it will ask to select your keyboard and Internet connection. Make sure that you have are connected to internet. It will work only if you have Internet connection.

Next stage is the updating stage, you can cancel it by pressing ESC key. Enter your Gmail ID and password on the next window, finally choose an image. Finish.

Let’s start with Chrome OS:

Chrome OS has a beautiful green background. You can see 2 icons on the left bottom side, chrome icon is for the chrome browser. When you click on chrome icon it opens Google chrome, it opens new tabs for the next clicks. The icon next to Google chrome is Apps button, you can access folders, web stores from it. You have two folders, Downloads and Google Drive. You can create new folders, can delete, rename everything like in a normal operating system. Only two folder, no Documents, Pictures or other Folders.

In your right bottom side , you can see settings , notifications and date. When you click on settings or any other options a new chrome window will open, you can do all your works in that window.

Unfortunately I didn’t like Google chrome OS as it is very slow and hangs repeatedly. Website loaded partially so i didn’t download anything.

If you format your pendrive you will get 1 GB or lesser size, you won’t get full capacity. I think you can use partition magic or similar software for this in Windows.

It is very easy for Ubuntu users, plug it, open Disk utilities. Select your pen drive. Unmount the mounted partitions. Then click on format drive, select Don’t partitions then format. Format again and select FAT , NTFS.