Below are some helpful tips to look out for:
Windows on Chromebooks Hardware Support List: This website lists Chromebook models you can install Windows on, complete with information about which built-in hardware components will and won’t work afterwards.
Windows for Chromebooks Installation Helper: This website allows you to select your model of Chromebook and get installation instructions for Windows, complete with links to drivers that will enable hardware on your specific model of Chromebook.
Read also:How to install any macOS on windows PC
Chrultrabook Subreddit: A community devoted to installing Windows on Chromebooks. If you want to find more information about whether a Chromebook or specific hardware component can be made to support Windows, this is a good place to search.
Congratulations if you can get your Chromebook to run Windows.To guarantee you’re setting things up properly for your individual kind of hardware, we recommend following an installation guide like the ones on the Coolstar Installation Helper site.However, because the instructions on that website could be more extensive, you’ll probably find some information in this article that you won’t find anywhere else.
The BIOS on Chromebooks is protected by a particular hardware mechanism that prohibits you from changing it.You’ll need to open up the Chromebook, locate the write protection screw on the motherboard, and remove it to disable the write protection function so you may upgrade the BIOS on most Chromebooks.Instead, you might discover a write protection switch on some Chromebooks.
Turn off your Chromebook first.Don’t just put it to sleep—turn it off completely.To gain access to the motherboard, flip the Chromebook over and detach the bottom.We had to unscrew 18 screws on our Chromebook before we could remove the plastic panel.Make sure you don’t misplace them!(A magnetic parts tray is a fantastic inavention.)
Find the write-protection screw (or write protect switch, depending on what the installation guide for your Chromebook specifies).More information about the particular placement of the screw can be found by searching the web for your Chromebook’s model name and number, as well as “write protect screw.”This SuperUser discussion guided us to the location of the screw on our Acer Chromebook C910.
The write-protect screw should stand out from the rest of the motherboard’s screws.On our Chromebook, this particular screw is a dark gray tint, whereas the other screws on the motherboard are a brighter silver.The screw has a dazzling silver tint underneath it, whereas the other screws on the motherboard have a bronze color.
Remove the screw and reattach the bottom onto your Chromebook. You can now write to and modify the Chromebook’s BIOS. Keep the screw in case you want to write protect your BIOS again later.
Step Two: Enable Developer Mode
You’ll now need to enable Developer Mode so you can modify the Chromebook’s software. To do this on modern Chromebooks, press Esc+Refresh+Power while the Chromebook is powered off. (The “Refresh” button is in the place where the “F3” key would be on a normal keyboard.)
Your Chromebook will boot up and display a message that “Chrome OS is missing or damaged”.
Press Ctrl+D and then press Enter to “turn OS verification OFF” and enable developer mode.After you do this, your Chromebook will wipe all of your personal data files and reset itself to factory defaults.You’ll have to sign in again using your Google account.However, rather of storing all of your crucial data on the Chromebook, you should sync it with web services.
When you boot into Chrome OS, you’ll see an “OS verification is OFF” message. You’ll need to press Ctrl+D to bypass this screen every time you boot. Don’t worry—after you flash a new BIOS, this message will go away and your Chromebook will boot straight into Windows when you’re done.
Step Three: Flash the New BIOS
From within ChromeOS, you can now flash your Chromebook’s new BIOS. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal window.
Type “shell” into the terminal and press “Enter” to access a more powerful Linux shell environment.
Download and run the script that will replace your Chromebook’s BIOS by copy-pasting the below command into the terminal window and then pressing “Enter”:
cd ~; curl -L -O http://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh; sudo bash firmware-util.sh
This command changes to your home directory, downloads the http://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh script file, and runs it with root privileges.
The script presents a helpful interface that will walk you through the process. Choose the “Custom coreboot Firmware (Full ROM)” option in the list by typing “3” and pressing “Enter”.
Agree to flash your firmware by typing “y” and then type “U” to install a UEFI firmware. Do not select the “Legacy” option if you want to run Windows.
The script will suggest that you make a backup copy of your Chromebook’s stock firmware and save it to a USB drive.Make a backup copy of your data and save it somewhere safe.This will make restoring the Chromebook’s original BIOS in the future much easier.
It is not necessary to keep the BIOS backup on the USB drive.After the operation is finished, you’ll have a.rom file that you may transfer off the USB stick and save somewhere secure.
After the backup process is complete, the script will download the replacement Coreboot firmware and flash it onto your Chromebook. Power the Chromebook off when it’s finished.
Re-install the write protect screw, if you want.
Step Four: Create a Windows Installation Drive
You may now install Windows on your Chromebook, but first you must create Windows installation discs.You won’t be able to do it using Microsoft’s official method; instead, you’ll need to download an ISO and use Rufus to burn it on a USB drive.This phase of the procedure must be completed on a Windows PC.
Microsoft offers a Windows 10 ISO download.Select “Create installation media for another PC” and tell it to get an ISO file for you by clicking “Download tool now.”Your Chromebook and its drivers may or may not work with Windows 8.1 and 7.
You’ll also need to download and run the Rufus utility, which you’ll use to create your Windows installer USB drive.
Plug a USB drive into the PC. You’ll use this USB drive for the Windows installer, and any files on it will be erased. (So make sure you copy anything important before continuing!)
Launch Rufus, select your USB drive, and select “GPT partition scheme for UEFI” and “NTFS”. Click the button to the right of “Create a bootable disk using” and select the Windows 10 ISO image you downloaded.
Double check that Rufus actually says “GPT partition scheme for UEFI”
before you continue. It may automatically change to the default setting
when you select the ISO file. Once you’ve double-checked all the
settings are correct, click the “Start” button to create a Windows
installer USB drive.
Step Five: Install Windows
You may now install Windows on your Chromebook.Connect the USB flash drive to your Chromebook and turn it on.It should begin booting from the USB disk and display the Windows installation.When “Select Boot Option” displays on your screen, tap any key if it does not immediately boot from the USB drive.Then go to “Boot Manager” and choose your USB devices.
Connect a USB mouse, a USB keyboard, or both to your Chromebook. You’ll need to use these while installing Windows. You can get by with just a USB keyboard or USB mouse—but you’ll need at least one of them to interact with the Windows installer.
With a USB keyboard, you can use the Tab, arrow, and Enter keys to navigate the interface. With a mouse, you can pull up the on-screen keyboard and use it to type.
Go through the Windows installation process normally, installing Windows on your Chromebook in place of Chrome OS. Feel free to partition the internal drive however you like. We deleted all the internal partitions and told Windows to install itself using the allocated space.
Bear in mind that you don’t need a product key to install and use Windows 10. You can always add a product key or purchase a product key from Microsoft from within Windows 10 later.
Don’t worry about Chrome OS—if you ever want to replace Windows with Chrome OS, you can easily create a Chrome OS recovery drive on any computer running Chrome and use it to restore the original Chrome OS operating system.
The Windows installer will restart in the middle of the process.If you don’t remove your USB drive before it finishes, the installer will resume from the beginning.Remove your USB drive, long-press the Power button until your Chromebook shuts down, and then click the Power button to boot it back up if you see the installer screen again.It should begin the setup procedure by booting Windows from the Chromebook’s internal drive.
Step Six: Install Third-Party Drivers for Your Hardware
You should now have Windows installed, and when you switch on your Chromebook, it should boot into Windows.You’re nearly finished!To make as much of your gear operate as possible, you simply need to install third-party drivers.For this stage, you’ll still need your USB keyboard and mouse.
As these are third-party drivers, they aren’t properly signed and Windows won’t normally allow them to be installed. You’ll need to enable “test signing” to install them. This is a setting designed for driver testing.
To do so, open a Command Prompt as Administrator—right-click the Start button or press Windows+X and select “Command Prompt (Administrator)”. Run the following command:
bcdedit -set testsigning on
Restart your Chromebook afterwards.
You can now install the third-party drivers the Chromebook installation guide recommends for your model of Chromebook. For example, on our Acer C910 Chromebook, we had to install drivers for the Chromebook’s chipset, Intel HD graphics, rapid storage technology, keyboard, trackpad, and Realtek HD audio.
When you install the drivers, Windows will display a security warning.This is due to the fact that they are unapproved, third-party drivers that were not developed by the manufacturer and are not signed by Microsoft.In any case, agree to install the drivers.You wouldn’t be doing this in the first place if you only intended to use manufacturer-supplied drivers!
After that, everything seemed to operate OK on this Chromebook model.We were able to use the Chromebook normally after disconnecting the USB keyboard and mouse.The Chromebook’s “Search” button even functions as a Windows key.