Until recently Google only made it possible to create a bootable Chrome OS Flex USB using the Chromebook Recovery Utility, an app that only officially supports Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS.
FlexOS – cloud-first, fast, easy-to-manage and secure operating system for PCs and Macs. ChromeOS Flex is a sustainable way to modernise devices that you already own. It’s easy to deploy across your fleet, or simply try it to see what a cloud-first OS has to offer.
This is no longer the case.
Google now provide a direct download of the ChromeOS Flex installer image. This image can be written/flashed/burned to a USB flash drive on Linux using a GUI app like Balena Etcher or, for those more comfortable at the command line.
Here are steps to create the bootable USB with FlexOS on Linux machine
- Download the ChromeOS Flex image from here
- Extract the ZIP download to get a BIN file
- Insert a USB of 8GB or greater in your computer
- Open Balenda Etcher
- Select the Chrome OS Flex BIN file
- Select your USB (double check)
- Hit write/flash
If you prefer CLI .. you can use this command line to accomplish same:
Once done, use the USB to boot Chrome OS Flex on any PC or laptop with at least 4GB of RAM and a not-too-ancient CPU. The steps to boot from a USB vary by device, manufacturer, model, etc. See the Google Support page for pointers.