9/17/2019 Install Windows 7 On Asus Chromebox
Image: ASUS Google Chromebooks have seen their, but Chrome devices still haven't been able to grab a sizable market share in the enterprise. With the looming, Chrome devices offer a low-cost alternative for companies looking to transition off old Windows XP machines but are worried about the cost and complexity of upgrading to Windows 8.
Today ASUS unveiled their Chromebox, a $179 desktop version of the Chromebook. Felix Lin, Director of Product Management at Google, called it, 'the most compact and powerful Chrome device to date.'
The Chromebox is account-based like the Chromebook and users get access to 100GB of Google Drive space. The box has a small SSD and access to four USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.0, an SD card reader, and it comes with integrated malware and virus protection. At 4.88' x4.88' it is only slightly larger than an Apple TV and can be mounted behind a compatible display using a Vesa mount.
'We firmly believe the ASUS Chromebox addresses the need for an extremely cost effective computing solution in the education, small and medium-sized business and home markets,' according to Gary Key, Senior Press Relations manager for ASUS. With the impending, many firms are looking for a way out. The question is whether or not many organizations in the enterprise space are ready to make the leap to web-based applications.
Options like the have been available for years and have provided a means for employees to access Windows desktops and applications through devices like iPads and Chromebooks. Last year in a blog post, Citrix even said they were.
Image: ASUS Despite these options, some analysts do not feel that the enterprise is entirely ready to move to the cloud. Steve Kleynhans, Vice President of Mobile and Client Computing Group at Gartner said that clients with a legacy of Windows applications won't see a device like Chromebox as a better option. 'The Chromebox (or Chromebooks) are well suited to organizations who have a 'green field' of new web-based applications and don’t have to deal with any legacy of Windows applications,' Kleynhans said. 'That describes a relatively small group of companies, most of whom are themselves quite small. While the long-term trend is moving towards web-based applications, (a space where Chromebooks/boxes do quite well), most organizations still have a large collection of Windows applications or Windows-dependent applications to deal with. For those organizations, the Chromebox is just another thin client; no better than the existing options from vendors who are better positioned for enterprises (Dell/Wyse, HP).' Kleynhans mentioned that enterprises have had these remote options for 15 or so years.
The use of options like the Citrix Receiver and Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) has seen steady growth, however, Kleynhans noted, ' it is seldom used to completely replace local execution of Windows applications and requires an investment in the data center that some companies aren’t prepared to make.' Regardless of what option a company chooses when they move on from XP, there will be a culture shift involved.
Windows 8 has as an alien entity to regular Windows users. Windows 7 is a more familiar option and would come with an easier transition for companies that wanted to stick with a Windows product. Chrome devices are often low-cost and have the potential to increase collaboration, but they force businesses into the cloud—still an uncharted and misunderstood territory for many companies. Only time will tell what will replace Windows XP in the that still don't plan to replace all of their XP machines by April 8, 2014 when official Microsoft support ends. What do you think? We want to know your take on this issue.
Does Chrome have a place in the enterprise? What do you think is the best option for companies leaving XP? Also see.
(ZDNet) Related Topics.
Buy it on Amazon - (affiliate link) Follow the install guide here: In this update to my Asus Chromebox review, I take a look at installing Ubuntu Linux on the Chromebox in an effort to run applications beyond Google Chrome. Using a utility called Crouton I was able to very easily run Linux applications side-by-side with the ChromeOS with little to no risk of bricking the system. Quite impressive!
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Information: A chrultrabook is a Google Chrome OS laptop that has been modified to run Windows, macOS and/or a Linux Distro. UEFI Flashing Disclaimer: Flashing a custom UEFI is at your own discretion. Before flashing the UEFI, please verify that it's for your model. Before rebooting after flashing, make sure the script didn't give any errors.
Do not interrupt flashing or you risk bricking your device. If you do brick your chromebook, you will need to use a Raspberry Pi and a SOIC clip to unbrick it. Windows To Go Windows To Go is a feature in Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education that allows them to boot and run from certain USB mass storage devices such as USB flash drives and external hard disk drives which have been certified by Microsoft as compatible.
It is a fully manageable corporate Windows environment. It is intended to allow enterprise administrators to provide users with an imaged version of Windows that reflects the corporate desktop. Creation of Windows To Go drives is not officially supported by non-Enterprise (or Education) Windows 8.1 editions; however, Enterprise and Education versions of Windows 10 are supported. Downvote to remove v0.28.
What You Need to Know About This Process We’ll say it again: this isn’t officially supported. To do this, you’ll have to install a replacement BIOS for your Chromebook (technically it’s a UEFI firmware, which is the modern replacement to the traditional BIOS). This will allow you to boot and install Windows. The replacement BIOS can only be installed on Chromebook models that it supports, so you can’t do this on every model of Chromebook.
You’ll need some additional hardware as well. You’ll need a USB keyboard and mouse just to install Windows, because your Chromebook’s built-in keyboard and mouse won’t work in the installer. And you’ll need a PC running Windows to create the USB installation media for your Chromebook. Even after you install Windows, you won’t be out of the woods. Windows doesn’t ship with hardware drivers for various pieces of hardware, like the touchpads incorporated into many Chromebooks (which makes sense, since Chromebook manufacturers never bothered creating Windows drivers for these components). If you’re lucky, you’ll find third-party drivers that were hacked together to give Windows support for these components. This will also, obviously, wipe your Chromebook, so make sure you don’t have anything important stored on it.
(You shouldn’t, as Chrome OS usually syncs your data with Google.) If your Chromebook ever appears to freeze or become stuck during this process, bear in mind that you can force the Chromebook to shut down by pressing the Power button and holding it down for ten seconds or so. Will This Work With Your Chromebook? You should only try installing Windows on a Chromebook if you know your model is supported.
You should also follow instructions for your specific model of Chromebook, as the steps for different models will be a bit different. Here are some helpful resources:.: 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.: 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.: 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. If your Chromebook can be made to support Windows, congratulations. We recommend following an installation guide like the ones on the site to ensure you’re setting things up properly for your specific model of hardware. However, that website’s instructions could be more detailed, so you’ll probably find some information in this guide that isn’t present elsewhere. We’ll provide help by walking you through the process of installing Windows on an Acer C910 Chromebook, codename YUNA. The process will be similar on other models of Chromebook, but some things—like the location of the write protect screw on the motherboard—will be different.
Step One: Remove the Write Protect Screw Chromebooks have a special hardware feature that prevents you from modifying the BIOS. To disable the write protection feature so you can replace the BIOS on most Chromebooks, you’ll need to open up the Chromebook, locate the write protection screw on the motherboard, and remove it. On some Chromebooks, you may find a write protection switch instead. First, turn off your Chromebook.
Don’t just put it to sleep—perform a full shutdown. Flip the Chromebook over and unscrew the bottom to gain access to the motherboard.
On our Chromebook, this required unscrewing 18 screws before we could remove the plastic panel. Be sure not to lose them! (A is a wonderful thing.) Locate the write protect screw (or write protect switch, depending on what the installation guide for your Chromebook specifies).You may find more documentation about the specific location of the screw by searching the web for the model name and number of your Chromebook as well as “write protect screw”.
For our Acer Chromebook C910, pointed us at the location of the screw. There were some other giveaways, too. The write protect screw should look visibly different from the other screws on the motherboard. This particular screw appears a dark gray color on our Chromebook, while the other screws on the motherboard are brighter silver. You can see a bright silver underneath the screw, while the other screws on the motherboard have a bronze color under them. 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 RELATED: You’ll now need to 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”.
Install Windows 7 On Virtualbox
Press Ctrl+D and then press Enter to “turn OS verification OFF” and enable developer mode. Your Chromebook will wipe all your personal data files, resetting itself to the default settings after you do this. You’ll have to sign in with your Google account once again.
However, all your important data should be synced with online services rather than stored on the Chromebook itself. 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 sudo bash firmware-util.sh This command changes to your home directory, downloads the script file, and runs it with root privileges. Consult the developer’s website if you want more. 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 offer to create a backup copy of your Chromebook’s stock firmware and place it on a USB drive for you.
Be sure to create this backup copy and store it somewhere safe. This will make it easier to restore the Chromebook’s original BIOS in the future. You don’t have to leave the BIOS backup on the USB drive. You’ll get a.rom file you can copy off the USB drive and store somewhere safe after the process is done. 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. At this point, you can re-install the write protect screw, if you want.
Step Four: Create a Windows Installation Drive RELATED: You can now install Windows onto your Chromebook, but you’ll need to make the Windows installation media first. You can’t, however, do it using Microsoft’s official method–instead, you’ll need to and burn it to a USB drive using a tool called. You’ll need to perform this part of the process on a Windows PC. Click “Download tool now”, select “Create installation media for another PC”, and tell it to download an ISO file for you. Windows 8.1 and 7 may or may not work with your Chromebook and its drivers. You’ll also need to download and run the 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’re now ready to install Windows on the Chromebook. Plug the USB drive into your Chromebook and power on your Chromebook. It should automatically boot from the USB drive, showing you the Windows installer. If it doesn’t automatically boot from the USB drive, press any key when “Select Boot Option” appears on your screen.
You can then select “Boot Manager” and select 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.
RELATED: 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 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 on any computer running Chrome and use it to restore the original Chrome OS operating system. The Windows installer will restart partway through.
Be sure to remove your USB drive when it does so, or it will restart back to the start of the installer. If you see the start of the installer screen again, remove your USB drive, long-press the Power button until your Chromebook shuts down, and then press the Power button to boot it back up. It should boot Windows from the Chromebook’s internal drive and finish the setup process Step Six: Install Third-Party Drivers for Your Hardware You should now have Windows installed, and your Chromebook should boot into Windows when you turn it on. You’re almost done! You just need to install third-party drivers to make as much of your hardware work as possible. You’ll still need your USB keyboard and mouse for this step.
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. Windows will show you a security warning when you install the drivers. That’s because these are unofficial, third-party drivers that weren’t created by the manufacturer and aren’t signed by Microsoft. Agree to install the drivers anyway. If you wanted to use only manufacturer-provided drivers, you wouldn’t be doing this in the first place! Afterwards, everything seemed to work properly on this model of Chromebook.
We were able to disconnect the USB keyboard and mouse and use the Chromebook normally. The “Search” button on the Chromebook’s keyboard even becomes a Windows key. And there you have it! Your Chromebook is now a very inexpensive, (hopefully) fully-functioning Windows computer.
If something ever breaks, be sure to check back with to see if you need to install new drivers or otherwise fix something that a Windows Update broke.
. This post is made possible because of the resources that others have provided.
The purpose of this walkthrough is to provide details on how I set my Chromebox for my own use – with a standalone boot of Ubuntu Linux (14.04). I have also set up my Chromebox with VNC for local access (or remote desktop access) and Plex Home Theater, which I will go over as well. Home Setup At home, I have a Synology DS212j, which has been updated with the. The DS212j contains all my media (movies, tv shows, music, photographs) and works well hosting those files. It also runs perfectly fine running Plex Media Server (PMS). The limitation of running PMS is that the Synology DS212j (or DS215j) do not have the processing power to transcode my.mkv media.
In otherwords, you cannot directly play a video from the Synology NAS unless the hardware (laptop, desktop) you are using to view the media is capable of transcoding the media. Using a tablet, phone, Chromecast, Roku with the Plex app will not work. I previously used my primary desktop computer, which has Plex Home Theater (PHT) installed, to connect to the PMS on my Synology NAS. The computer was then connected to the TV via HDMI. This worked fine, but it was troublesome when I didn’t want to leave my computer on all day, waste electricty, and generate extra heat during the summer.
What Is A Chromebox Computer
The Best HTPC For Me There are several HTPCs available, but I wasn’t looking to spend more than $150, and I wanted it with low power consumption, a small footprint, and the ability to boot into Linux directly. This is something that I would be comfortable running 24/7 without feeling like I’m wasting electricty. The fits the bill perfectly.
There are resources available to set up standalone Linux easily, it doesn’t consume too much power, but it is powerful enough to transcode media, and it’s pretty inexpensive. The Asus Chromebox was released in March 2014. Ars Technica gave it, but much has changed in ease of installing a standalone linux OS. I found it on eBay for $110, brand new. Currently, Amazon sells it for $159: Requirements If you aim to accomplish the same setup for your Chromebox as I have, follow the guide below.
Again, this is for a standalone Linux Ubuntu boot on the Asus Chromebox. This process will remove ChromeOS and does not have the option to dual-boot. Once you have finished this process, you will have accomplished the following:. An Asus Chromebox with Ubuntu Linux 14.04, as a standalone boot. Plex Home Theater installed on the Chromebox, accessing Plex Media Server on the Synology NAS. VNC server up and running, to remotely access the system I am assuming you already have Plex Media Server working with all your media. I am also assuming that you are willing to risk bricking your Chromebox; definitely proceed at your own risk.
With that said, serveral people have reported success with this process. Step-by-Step Walkthrough Chromebox Setup and Ubuntu Installation Please note that the Kodi E-Z Setup Script is still in active development and options may change, or this process may no longer work. I wrote this in Feb 2015 and so the details of each step may have changed. I will try to keep this updated but please proceed at your own risk. With your Chromebox unplugged, prepare your device for the linux installation by disabling the.
To open the Chromebox, you need to remove the four rubber footpads. I found it easiest to use a small flathead and lift up from the inner-rounded corner of the footpad Lift the flathead under the rubber foot, from the direction of the inner-rounded corner. In case of any doubt from the website link above, here is the screw that needs to be permanently removed for this installation to work. If you like, you can install additional RAM at this point. Do make sure your RAM is PC3L, and not PC3. Using the latter will result in issues upon bootup.
Asus Chromebox Specs
Follow the steps at this link to. NOTE: Carefully follow these instructions. Take your time at this step. STOP at “1.3 Perform Factory Reset.” You do not need to follow that step. You now want to download and run the EZ setup script, provided by Matt DeVillier. You can follow the, but I will break it down here. NOTE: Most of these instructions are directly from the link above, but I want to separate those instructions to make it easier see what needs to be done.
Power up your Chromebox, and set up the internet connection (the first screen). DO NOT continue with the set up prompts. Press CTRL-ALT-F2 to view the command prompt. You will be prompted for a username. Enter: chronos. Enter the following to download and run the EZ setup script: cd; curl -L -O && sudo bash setup-kodi.sh.
You will be provided some options to choose from. Enter 5, for Install/update: custom coreboot Firmware Enter 6 (as of 2017), for Install/Update: Custom UEFI Firmware.
Type Y to continue. You may be prompted to ask if you want to install the headless firmware. Go ahead and say no. The headless option is no longer an option as of 2017. Backup the ChromeOS firmware to a USB stick.
Then download and setup a USB stick to liveboot Ubuntu on a.Please note that with Ubuntu will probably not install the grub EFI shim to the default UEFI boot target and this will cause your Chromebox to boot up to a black screen which is the EFI shell. See which addresses how to resolve this. Otherwise you can use GalliumOS. Stick in the liveboot USB stick into the Chromebox, and reboot it. You will have five seconds to press ESC key to display the boot menu. If you miss it simply reboot it again.
Select the USB stick from the boot menu, and then you can proceed with installing Ubuntu. Setting up Ubuntu.
Once you have Ubuntu installed, you can install the programs you need. Run Updates first. See the for an overview of what to run. Installing Plex Home Theater. Add the plexappp repository by following. If it’s confusing, you should do the following commands in Terminal: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:plexapp/plexht.
Update the respositories: sudo apt-get update. Install Plex Home Theater: sudo apt-get install plexhometheater.
Now all you need to do is configure PHT to talk to your PMS. I did this by configuring my server settings manually in Preferences. Configuring VNC - Remote Desktop. Ubuntu comes with Desktop Sharing by default. This sets up a VNC server.
Type “Desktop Sharing” in the dash (the launcher/finder). Configure the settings so that the following in enabled as seen below: Enable the options seen above for remote desktop sharing. You then need to disable encryption, since having this enabled seems to be an issue. Gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false. This change may not stay after reboot, so you can edit some settings by typing the following in Terminal: sudo apt-get install dconf-tools.
Search for dconf Editor in dash, then navigate to org gnome desktop remote-access. Some have reported unchecking “enabled” but others haven’t had much success and. Defintely review those options if you’re haivng problems accessing VNC after rebooting. ‘ Summary What you’ve accomplished, if my documentation is thorough enough (if not please let me know) is setting up the Asus Chromebox as an HTPC, with Ubuntu 14.04 installed, along with Plex Home Theater and local VNC access. If you would like to have access to your Chromebox via remote desktop outside your network (e.g., at work or another house) then I strongly recommend setting up SSH tunneling for VNC; passwords are not encrypted over the network.
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