At Make Tech Easier (MTE), our team has long admired Chrome OS for its innovative approach to operating systems. We've covered its early development and shared a manual build guide for enthusiasts. Compiling Chrome OS from source is time-intensive—often hours—and challenging even for seasoned Linux users. Thankfully, developers like Hexxeh provide polished custom builds with built-in installers and tweaks. This hands-on guide, based on our real-world testing, walks you through downloading the latest Flow image and running it on a netbook or virtual machine from a Linux host.
Flow supports two straightforward methods: bootable USB or virtual machine. Download the USB and VMware images here. Expect a sizable file—a few hundred MB—so plan for a longer download.
Recent Chrome OS builds have boot issues in VirtualBox on my setup, so I recommend VMware Player—it's free and reliable. Quick registration on the VMware site unlocks downloads for Linux, Windows, or macOS.
To create a bootable USB (from the downloaded image), extract the file, select it along with your target USB drive, and hit Write to device. Eject safely, insert into your netbook or device, and boot up—you'll land on the Flow login screen.
One key step remains for full functionality: enabling wireless before using your Google account. From the login screen, use the credentials facepunch / facepunch (yes, that's correct). Click the network icon in the top-right, then select Enable Wi-Fi.
No graphical logout option? Press Ctrl+Alt+T for a terminal and run:
sudo reboot
Password: facepunch
Reboot, then log in with your Google account to start using Flow.
Flow's HD installer is terminal-based. After Wi-Fi setup and Google login, open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run:
/usr/sbin/chromeos-install
Follow the prompts—it'll handle the rest.
Share your Chrome OS or Flow experiences in the comments!
