How-to: run Chrome OS as a virtual machine
By Paul Miller 
posted November 20th 2009 2:15PM
posted November 20th 2009 2:15PM
posted November 20th 2009 2:15PM
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No offense to most people, but if you're having issues figuring out how to setup a VM, you have bigger problems.
On second thought, you're probably the kind of person Chrome OS is designed for. It does one thing, and one thing only.
Just don't search for the power button; it isn't there.
You're a tool. Certain hardware configurations prevent the VM Image AND Vbox image from booting properly. Feel free to blow it out your ass.
Your icon is quite appropriate.
@BillG Apparently you fail at understanding the fact that a VM is supposed to abstract all those hardware problems away. Also, nice one man. Still trying to figure this out? Everyone else was done over 12 hours ago.
@Nerdtalker
Apparently you fail to understand how VM's work, the host hardware DOES matter. Three setups, all of which include the same mobo have failed to work. One includes an ESXi 4.0 server, so again, blow it out your ass. :-)
I've tried the VirtualBox route, but can't seem to get the network connection to work (which is needed to login). Any help? I'm running a mid-2009 Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard. I also have 2 other VMs, Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows 7, both of which work perfectly.
Let it sit for a bit before you try and log in, if it doesn't work, reboot it and try again a few times. I was having the same issue and finally got it to let me in.
Had the same problem with the Mac Mini 10.6 even though I am frequent user of VirtualBox.
As you probably know, make sure to change your networking mode from NAT to Bridged. Second, changed the adapter type to the first option - PCnet-PCI II (AM79C970A). ChromeOS doesn't appear to recognize the others.
I've been using Chromium OS for about 10 minutes and have already found a way to open a shell that let's you play around with the file system(though I can't figure out the root password or sudo password. If you download a .deb installer(virtualbox definitely works, haven't tried any others) and click on it, it'll bring up the installer shell. You can press 'i' to install and it'll ask you how you want to get root privileges. Here you can enter any command you want. If you type in "sh;"(requires the ';' since it adds a --install to whatever you enter) then you have a nice linux shell
Speaking of which, given their talk about security, I expected it to be a bit tighter than this... If anyone out there figures out the default root password for it, all that would be necessary to hack into it completely is to get someone to open such a file and then have it take root privileges and do whatever the hell it wants.
@Mark You can also get a terminal through ctrl + alt +t. You can alt-tab between the browser and the terminal after that. I believe the sudo password for the torrent version is chromeos, I don't know for gdgt's. There's a version here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1331975 , and the password for that is chromium05. What you can do is pretty restricted though - the root filesystem is read-only. Seeing as /var/lib/dpkg/lock is set (and isn't writable) you can't use dpkg to install anything.
gdgt's sudo password is chronos
@ttlj You can remount the root directory using those root privileges as read/write (mount -o remount,rw /) and then rm everything and completely trash the system(or do anything else you want)
I'm not sure why you're being downranked into oblivion, hacking apart their linux distro does seem like fun.
@BillG Because whoever was stalking me before figured out that I came back after not being on for a week(vacation) and is now doing so again. Apparently convinced that I'll eventually leave or stop commenting(I never will)
@Mark True. I don't understand why you're getting down-ranked. You always make balanced comments. Does someone have a down-rank bot somewhere? Btw, is that you in your avatar? :O
@[Highest Ranked] Indeed it is. I've tried changing it several times(was the first thing I did yesterday when I saw the new system) but no matter what I do, it just won't let me change the pic to anything else. I don't really like this picture anymore, but I guess I'm stuck with it.
@Mark - Sorry that you've been downranked. I appreciated your post and maybe I'll play around with this in a VM and take a look.
Perhaps Engadget just needs to get rid of ranking entirely. Admins, please take notice. I'd rather see comments... and I almost missed Marks substantive comment amidst all the childishness on this site. Please set up an environment that is less reminiscent of a second grade school yard. Thanks.
@Mark I've said it before and I'll keep saying it:
Engadget comment system = #1 Crapgadget of all time.
@Mark That sucks. This whole stupid voting system is rife with problems anyways. The verification they do is almost trivial. Awesome stuff with hacking your way to a terminal!
Yea, I would replace OSX with something better too, even if it is in pre-beta stage.
Eeeeeeeeee no thanks but I wouldn't mind using the OS on a netbook.
It's basically like a browser you can't minimize.
Running Chrome web browser in kiosk mode, and never using any other application is a much easier way to play "Chrome OS".
Add " --kiosk" (no quotes) after chrome.exe in your shortcut.
Alt-F4 will kill it (kiosk mode has no "exit" or "quit" that I can find)
@NerdTalker "No offense to most people, but if you're having issues figuring out how to setup a VM, you have bigger problems." Really?
The only way I could get chrome to work was through virtual box. Set it up as linux and ubuntu. Took me a couple of tries because it didn't work on Virtual Machine or VMWare
It didn't work on vmware? Funny because I'm running it in vmware right now.
Epic fail.
@nerdtalker Just because you know how to use VMs better than the rest of us doesn't give you the right to be an ass. Many of the people trying this have probably never used a VM and it would be much better for you to be helpful than a dick.
i agree with nerd. don't go to the "How-to: run Chrome Os as a virtual machine" post if you can't use a virtual machine.
@justnandbrtny and nerdtalker
so if someone has never used VM before, they shouldn't start?
many people only learn things when they become interested in them, and this may be what first interests someone in VMware ... let them have their fun. so what if they ask a question? if you don't know how to answer their question, then don't answer it ... but don't berate them for trying something new ... trying new stuff is the only way to learn new things, don't bag on people for that.
Works for me on VirtualBox, but I wanted to grab a copy of VMWare to test it. No dice. VMWare isn't sending me the link to authorize the Player download.
Their email service is very slow. Give it an hour or two. It should eventually show up.
Check your spam box. My account info came through, but the download link got caught.
Vmware is undergoing a 6 hour upgrade process on one of their licensing servers. I only know this because I called due to my activation email not showing up. Came after about an hour though.
Running Chrome web browser in kiosk mode, and never using any other application is a much easier way to play "Chrome OS".
Add " --kiosk" (no quotes) after chrome.exe in your shortcut.
Alt-F4 will kill it (kiosk mode has no "exit" or "quit" that I can find)
This feature only works in the newer Chrome betas, not in version 3.
It was slow and buggy.
I'll stick with a normal browser on a normal computer, thank you very much.
For an obviously early, not yet beta...this still left a bad taste in my mouth...don't see even a netbook doing it justice...
Q: How to get ChromeOS to run on a VM?
A: Be smarter then the keyboard on your computer.
I tried both the VMDK and the VDI files with no luck, I seem to be getting the black screen of nothingness like so many others. My test platforms are WinXP and Vmware ESXi 4.0. I tried both VDI and VMDK on the windows box using recommended settings. Anyone else having this problem?
The video's not loading for me.
I don't really get this though. There are devices like smartphones that turn on rapidly, and with those you can actually download all kinds of applications to use offline. Why would someone want a computer like this just because it can turn on fast if you can't put your photos on it (I assume at least not with uploading them to the internet) or run all kinds of offline software. It's great for doing some stuff, but not everything, so even for personal use it can't be your only computer.
I ran it in VirtualBox and it froze after 10 minutes of use.
First impressions: wtf, why would anybody use this?
Also: has anybody figured out how to do stuff other than browse the web on this thing?
@G Ya, you can open a shell by pressing alt-ctrl-t. From there you can do anything you want. The password for the user(chronos) is chronos. Using that you can use sudo to remount the root directory as read/write and from there you can do anything you want. Pretty scary, considering I now know how to make a script that, if downloaded and run, can take full control of the system and do anything it wants.
@Mark You scare yourself? Kewl. Can you teach me?
@Buis Haha, no, I meant it's pretty scary that that's possible if Google doesn't patch up these holes. Sure, you can do the same kind of stuff on normal Linux, but the fact that Google doesn't give you a straightforward way to choose/change the user password, means the likelihood of someone being able to use this kind of malicious script is very high.
I just got to another conundrum:
if you want to use the Chrome OS on some secure WiFi network, how do you set up the access point without logging on first? And how can you log on if you are not connected to the internet?
logging in as chronos(no password needed) would take care of that (no password needed)
clicking the chrome logo opens a group of apps, mostly internet based; however, im certain this is where other applications will be implemented in the future. the goal of chrome os is to start up and connect to the internet, cutting out the fat of other os'es
Worked first try this morning in vmWare and not having any rendering or slow framerate on the low en 27" iMac. However so far kind of unimpressed but i'm sure the final product on a ultraportable will be nice.
Anyone interested in getting a Parallels image together? I'm at work and wanna check this out.