Do you have multiple old Chromebooks gathering dust on the shelves of your school district? Are you thinking of discarding them once and for all? Instead of adding to the e-waste, there is a better way to use those old devices. You can reinstate them into your fleet and deploy them across the school district. Just revive your outdated Chromebooks by installing the new ChromeOS Flex! If you are unsure about how to do it, this simple guide will walk you through the entire process.
Getting Started with the ChromeOS Flex Transformation
Chromebooks are great devices, except for one problem. The device reaches its Auto Update Expiration or AUE date after a few years, bringing down the performance. Hitting the AUE means that the device will no longer get updates, new features, or security from Google! Previously Chromebooks reached AUE within 5 years, but later it was extended to nine years. But now you have a way to move around that problem and utilise your Chromebook to the fullest.
Read our article to learn about the best practices of storing your Chromebooks long-term.
ChromeOS Flex is a cloud-first, fast, secure, free, and easy-to-manage operating system that will breathe new life into your old devices, while also saving you a significant amount on new Chromebooks.
How to Install ChromeOS Flex on Your Device?
Get your outdated Chromebook that’s waiting to be disassembled. First, you need to deprovision the device to enter developer mode. You will also require a USB drive for creating an installation media for ChromeOS Flex. The USB should be 8GB or more, preferably a 3.0 drive for faster installation.
Before starting, backup your files (if any) and powerwash the device to delete the local files permanently (factory reset).
Once you have all that in order proceed with the following steps:
There will be a write protection on your device. Disable it by either removing the write protect screw or jumper.
Press ESC + refresh + power to enter recovery mode.
Enable developer mode using ctrl + d.
Connect to your WiFi and either log in or browse as a guest.
Press ctrl + alt + t to open Chrome OS terminal.
Type ‘shell’ to enter the shell.
Now, enter the command - cd; curl -LO mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh
It will boot into the firmware utility of MrChromebox.
Choose option 2 – Install UEFI Full ROM Firmware.
Once you have installed the UEFI, you have to insert the USB with ChromeOS Flex and reboot.
Press ESC to get the UEFI options.
Choose the USB from the boot menu to boot the ChromeOS Flex setup.
Finish up by installing ChromeOS Flex to the device and reboot when asked.
That’s it! Your once deprovisioned AUE Chromebook is now ready for use with an updated Chrome version. Follow this method with the old devices of your district and repurpose your IT asset for longer use.