Boot Google Chrome OS off a USB key

Try this new operating system on your netbook by booting it off a USB key.

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Google’s Chrome OS, a web-centric operating system designed for netbooks. With every application being web-based, you don’t need a whole lot of storage space on your machine to run Chrome OS. But how do I run it on my netbook without using a CD, you ask. Well, there is a way to stick Chrome OS onto a USB key and boot off it, and it is similar to how you would do the same with a “normal” linux distro like Ubuntu.

This special USB version of Chrome OS was built by Hexxeh, and he has created a website that has instructions for Windows, Linux and Mac users on how to put this special image onto a USB key. You can download the 300MB+ .tar.gz file as a torrent here (Engadget mirror here.) If you’re on Windows, first extract the image from the .tar.gz file, then download and run the windows version of ImageWriter. Select your Chrome OS image and the USB drive letter to write the image to.

Take your newly-minted Chrome OS USB key to your netbook, boot off the key and hope for the best. Just remember that the current version of Chrome OS lacks a lot of hardware drivers, which will leave some parts of your netbook unusable while using the OS. If you do try it, share your experiences in the comments.

Filed Under: Cloud Computing > Computers & Software > Found on the Web
Tags: Chrome OS