How to root Chromebook? | Chrome OS rooting shell scripts.

Last Updated on February 27, 2022 by Vinay Kharayat

Recently I wrote a post about Google Chromebook laptops and whether you should buy them or not. So today’s post is for those users who already own a Google Chromebook and want to easily root Chromebook.

So, as we all know, rooting is a thing that almost all advanced Android users love, rooting devices means granting a user to modify /system partition. Now it’s possible to root Android Subsystem on Chromebook, but this method is only tested on Chrome OS versions 54-67.

Note: This method will only work if your ChromeOS is below v77.You might face some issues like android apps not working. For Chrome-OS with Android 9 or v77 please follow this guide.

And first, all credit goes to the developer of aroc project. The solarium developer of aroc project made it possible to root the android subsystem present in Chromebooks, which helps Chromebook users run Android applications. Enough talks let’s move to the process.

The prerequisites of running the scripts to root Chromebook 2020 – 2021:

Follow these steps to remove Rootfs verification:-

  • A Chrome OS device that supports Android apps with storage space for a ~2 GB file in /usr/local.
  • Chromebook should have Developer Mode enabled.
  • The Chrome OS system partition needs to have been made writable, that is, rootfs verification needs to be disabled.
  • Rootfs verification can be disabled by running the following commands, and then rebooting;
sudo /usr/share/vboot/bin/make_dev_ssd.sh --remove_rootfs_verification --partitions $(( $(rootdev -s | sed -r 's/.*(.)$/\1/') - 1))

OR

sudo /usr/share/vboot/bin/make_dev_ssd.sh --remove_rootfs_verification

Instruction to grant root access in Chromebook:-

Method 1 (One click root for chrome OS):-

  • Backup your android system image (in case you want to unroot)
  • Launch up your Chrome OS shell and type
curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nolirium/aroc/onescript/RootandSEpatch.sh | sudo sh
  • Reboot your device.
  • Now install the Root checker and check whether you acquired root access.

Method 2 on how to root a chromebook:-

This method isn’t different from the above one. The above code is a combination of the codes provided below. But some people might face issues with the above code, so you can follow this method to root Chrome OS.

You have to flash scripts in following order (01Root.sh>Reboot>02SEPatch.sh>Reboot).

  • Backup your android system image (in case you want to unroot).
  • Launch your Chrome OS shell and type the following command
curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nolirium/aroc/master/01Root.sh | sudo sh
  • Now reboot your device and again open Chrome OS shell and type the following command
curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nolirium/aroc/master/02SEPatch.sh | sudo sh
  • Now again reboot your device and done, now you have Chromebook root access!!

After the Chrome OS update, all the changes made to rootfs will be reverted. You will have to again root android inside chrome os.

In case you want to unroot just manually restore your unrooted system image.

Command to backup chromebook unrooted system image:-

sudo cp /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img.bk

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you need to restore the original Android system image (for instance after a power wash, or if the script didn’t complete successfully), the easiest way to do this is to run the following command (then reboot) :

sudo mv /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img.bk /opt/google/containers/android/system.raw.img

Comment down below if you have any questions or problems, we will try to help you fix them!

8 thoughts on “How to root Chromebook? | Chrome OS rooting shell scripts.”

  1. Ran the scripts, it appeared to go as it should without any errors, however now I cannot run Android apps….web browsing still works

    Reply
    • Hello, thanks for the comment. Sorry to hear that. This script won’t work with chrome OS 77 or up. I just came to know about this. I will write new post on How to root chromebook 77 or up. I hope you backed up the system image.

      Reply
    • Not sure what went wrong here, I’m afraid. I might suggest retrying, it you haven’t already, perhaps with the combined script (which should root and patch selinux without requiring a reboot in between).

      Reply
  2. I’m new to all thus. I’m glad I’m learning on a chromebook. When only ran: …remove_rootfs_verification
    The system told me to run this instead:
    Sudo /usr/share/vnoot/bin/make_dev_ssd.sh –remove_rootfs_verification –partitions 4
    They claimed it was because all the linex system would be in one partiton and if something happened to one line system then the others will get it too.

    Reply
  3. There is exposed to be two — before remove and partitions. Sorry.
    I have a screen shot of the code and what came up on screen after. Not sure how to upload it here though.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.