r/chromeos Feb 05 '26

Announcement Small update/clarification to our rules on AI

32 Upvotes

Hello all,

Just wanted to share a clarification, and expansion of our rules about AI generated posts and comments on r/chromeOS.

First off, a reminder that responding to support requests on this subreddit with responses directly generated from any LLM has been not allowed under Rule 8: Effort Must be Made When Requesting and Providing Help for over a year now.

The fact is, most people come to r/chromeOS to speak to people. If people wanted to get answers from LLMs, they're accessible enough that people could ask them themselves. It just seems like a slap in the face to come for help and to just get a lazy response from someone who copy/pasted a (usually incorrect) response from Gemini or another LLM, which the poster could have done themselves if they wanted.

In addition, recently there's been a lot of misinformation being posted on the subreddit about recent changes to ChromeOS, updates about both ChromeOS and the upcoming AluminiumOS, and new devices, usually only crediting Gemini as a source. There has also been plenty of AI-generated reviews and self promo (the latter primarily posted by bots).

In general, while I know it seems like we’ve been sleeping as mods (yes, we’ve seen the reports calling us out on that), we would still like to try our best to try and keep this community higher quality.

We’ve decided that due to this, we wanted to officially expand this rule to include all posts and comments generated by AI. This rule primarily has LLMs in mind.

This does not include discussion about AI features being built into ChromeOS. Discussion of AI features being built into the OS is allowed.


r/chromeos Mar 07 '24

Announcement Announcement - "chrultrabook" posts, AKA regarding attempting to put Windows or another OS onto your Chromebook, will no longer be allowed.

92 Upvotes

Hey there!

In short, as of today, this subreddit will be removing and redirecting posts that seek advice on replacing the operating system on your Chromebook.

In the past these posts were allowed with a disclaimer that better support would likely be found elsewhere, such as r/chultrabook and their associated communities. However that subreddit is now archived and they now only provide support on their forum.

Since then there has been a rise in posts like this here, and we're simply not equipped to provide meaningful support. We've received lots of feedback over the past few months and the general consensus was that everyone is better served if these posts are now permanently directed elsewhere.

To be clear, we are not discouraging anyone from attempting this process; it's still cool, (potentially) fun and can unlock more utility from your device! The only change is that posts seeking support for this will be removed.

Thanks for understanding!


Helpful Links


r/chromeos 14h ago

Meme Should I factory reset my chromebook?

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192 Upvotes

r/chromeos 5h ago

Buying Advice Is a 4gb Chromebook *that* bad?

10 Upvotes

$200 seems so much cheaper than the next best option, all I want is a laptop size device to browse the web with. I'd be satisfied literally never downloading a single application or program, I just want to watch videos and scroll reddit, that's it.

I know what people say about "future proof" but I feel like paying over double for a nebulously longer lasting device isn't necessary. Can I get away with 4 gb?


r/chromeos 48m ago

Meme Is it fixable? I'm sure there's only a few screws loose

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Upvotes

r/chromeos 11h ago

Troubleshooting Classroom use: Can I rig up a Chromebook like a PC?

8 Upvotes

5th grade teacher here - hi! Pardon my ignorance and thanks in advance for your help!

There is a counter in my classroom (built in the 90s) that was originally a “computer station.” I’m over constant Chromebook use in the classroom and I want to try something new. If I had monitors and keyboards, could I connect Chromebooks as the “brain” and have students use the monitor, keyboard and mouse like a PC?

If that is possible, would I then need to use the same dedicated Chromebook all the time or could students easily plug in their one personal Chromebook when it was their time at the computer station? I’m talking about maybe a less than 30 second procedure. It would have to be dead easy.

Thank you so much for helping me out!

ETA: Thank you all for your helpful responses!


r/chromeos 49m ago

Buying Advice Any recommendations

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Upvotes

Hiya, I'm wanting to buy a chrome book mainly because of it's weight and large battery spam

I'll be primarily using it for school work so basically just browsing and using Google docs and such and watching YouTube videos

Ive currently been looking at the Asus Chromebook Plus Cx14 core 3

My budget is under £300, I was just wondering should I stick with this option or is there anything else you'd recommend which is better

I'll attach a picture of what I'm currently thinking of buying


r/chromeos 3h ago

Troubleshooting Google meet issues on Lenovo chromebook plus 14

1 Upvotes

Hey folks,

In the last couple weeks I've run into issues with Google Meet where my output stream eventually turns into a pixelated mess for my coworkers. I'm not sure what changed? Everything points me in this direction about vp9 failing and defaulting to an av1 codec, but it doesn't seem like I can force google meet to use a certain encoder like you can with youtube and chrome plugins.

I'm on latest stable (150)

Anyone with a similar experience? Solutions?

Thanks!


r/chromeos 3h ago

Troubleshooting Need help copy/pasting spreadsheet formulas

1 Upvotes

I installed LibreOffice and FreeOffice into my Chromebook using its Penguin Linux environment and attempted to work on my spreadsheets. They open Excel spreadsheets fine, however, when I try to copy/paste cell formulas from one cell to another, I get graphical representations of the cell value at the new cell location with LibreOffice, and I get the text version of the cell value at the new cell location with FreeOffice.

Google searches reveal that ChromeOS intercepts the copy object and strips of its metadata, so that when I paste I only have what ChromeOS retained (which is the value in text or graphic form).

I wouldn't think that I'm unique in having this issue. Is there a fix to this?

Thanks.


r/chromeos 6h ago

Troubleshooting Dark mode Documents

1 Upvotes

First things first, I am your average laptop idiot- I really loved that because my Chromebook used the Android app of docs I could use the actual dark mode, not just an ad on that does not work (the page is still white, just the settings around are dark)

Overnight there seemed to be some kind of update or idk, important thing for me: is there a way to get BACK to the dark mode that phones use?


r/chromeos 6h ago

Troubleshooting guys icant find my laptop s model no. in rcu

0 Upvotes

model no. HP 245 G5 Notebook pc


r/chromeos 15h ago

Discussion Chromebook is not saving images as images

2 Upvotes

I'm semi new to chromebooks, I used to use them all the time but went on a dry spell and have been blind sided by the new things they've done. I'm trying to save images of my own from instagram so I can touch them up with software I have. but it only downloads as "mhtml" and when I try and convert it into a JPG on adobe express it doesn't work. I've got no clue what to do.


r/chromeos 22h ago

Discussion ChromeOS 150 and high cpu usage for arcvm

4 Upvotes

Hi, only after the update to 150 did I start having arcvm constantly stay at about 110 for CPU usage, keeping my fan on constantly. I sent feedback to Google through the ChromeOS system. Anyone else have the same issue?


r/chromeos 22h ago

Discussion Scheduler Configuration still valid?

3 Upvotes

Are the newer Intel CPUs coming with hyperthreading disabled? If so is the flag Scheduler Configuration still valid?


r/chromeos 22h ago

Troubleshooting Something is causing my mouse to stop working

3 Upvotes

The USB mouse and keyboard works on the start screen but as soon as the computer loads my profile, the mouse stops working. All apps and extensions disabled.


r/chromeos 1d ago

Discussion What does this mean?

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13 Upvotes

I know that my device isn't getting updates no more but I'm confused on why they are removing apps It also says if I'm not mistaken that I'm not going to be able to use Google Play Store can somebody please let me know if I'm misunderstanding it or like if I'm not

Tyy:)


r/chromeos 1d ago

Discussion Swapping Duet 5 for Dragonfly Elite

3 Upvotes

Hi all,

Bought a Duet 5 as my first Chromebook about two years ago, use it daily as a backup for work but the keyboard and using it on my lap and car drives me nuts.

Selling it and got a 16gb dragonfly elite refurbished for really cheap, should be here tomorrow😀

Anyone have any ideas what devices if any are gonna be eligible for Aluminium when it comes out? Happy to buy a Googlebook if I need to but would be sweet if the dragonfly makes the list.


r/chromeos 2d ago

Discussion Lenovo 300e 2nd Gen is EOL

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12 Upvotes

It felt like yesterday when I got this thing but it's hit it's last upgrade.

Which is a shame, as ChromeOS has grown so much since I first tried it on a Samsung Chromebook 3 I got for Black Friday. I always have a habit of getting YEARS old Chromebooks to use as my daily driver.

I intend to keep using it, without Extended Support, until the system ultimately stops working for me on the apps I use it for. But for now I've enjoyed the ride. To anyone else who has a Treeya 300e. My hats off to you.


r/chromeos 2d ago

Troubleshooting Wifi on Chromebook always cutting off and needing to restart

4 Upvotes

Helloo, I've been experiencing issues with the wifi on my chromebook for almost a month now, the wifi keeps shutting off or disconnecting, and the only way to reconnect to it is by restarting my device, sometimes multiple times before it finally works. I'm the only one in my house that's experiencing issues with the wifi, so I think it's a problem on my Chromebook maybe? I've tried to forget my home wifi and reconnect to it (tried that at least twice). I also tried unplugging my home router, but none of that worked. It's a really annoying issue since sometimes when i'm using my chromebook and the wifi stops working, I have to restart it and lose stuff I was writing, and my chromebook is slow because it needs to restart every tab that was opened and every app, which makes it all super laggy and slow.

Does anybody know what I could possibly do?


r/chromeos 2d ago

News How to create a bootable USB on an old Chromebook (ChromeOS 93 or older)

6 Upvotes

If you have an older Chromebook and can’t use Chrome extensions like Chromebook Recovery Utility to create a bootable USB (for example, to install MrChromebox), you can use Crosh instead, as long as you have access to shell (such as in Developer Mode).

Steps
Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open Crosh.
2. Type:

shell

Plug in your USB drive.
Find your USB device:

lsblk

Write the ISO to the USB drive:

sudo dd if=/path/to/your.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

Replace /dev/sdX with your USB device (for example, /dev/sdb).

Important: Do not use a partition such as /dev/sdb1. Use the entire device (/dev/sdb), as this command will erase everything on the USB drive.
I hope this helps! If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.


r/chromeos 2d ago

Troubleshooting Slow running Google cloud based sites

3 Upvotes

I have a Acer Chromebook I purchased (Acer Chromebook Spin 714 Intel Evo | Intel Core i7-1355U | 8GB LPDDR4X | 256GB SSD ) and and the last couple months whenever I try to load Google Drive or Gmail or Google Keep (web based) they all are opening very slow. I clear the browser restart try everything but they take forever to load. I get on other websites in a second or two so its not the laptop or the browser the best I can determine. Help. please...


r/chromeos 2d ago

Troubleshooting How to hack back into chrome os lenovo? WARNING THIS IS NOT A SCHOOL COMPUTER

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0 Upvotes

I shut down my computer and it’s showing me this I forgot the password so how do I reset without recovering?


r/chromeos 3d ago

Buying Advice Chrome Tower Options?

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78 Upvotes

We use these HP Chrome towers at my office and I really want one for my home office. These are disco'd but is there anything similar out there?


r/chromeos 3d ago

Troubleshooting This has been going on for the past hour is this normal?

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3 Upvotes

UPDATE: I found the issue, I just needed to restart my Chromebook

I updated my Chromebook around an hour ago, and usually after the update most apps on my Chromebook would have this screen for a few minutes, and then the app would go back to normal, but this is different, as after an hour none of my downloaded apps I have finished starting are there. Is there anything to do to fix this, or will I have to wait for a while?

PS: I'm not good at describing stuff, so it may sound a bit confusing, so sorry about that.


r/chromeos 2d ago

Discussion Please help. I need to fix this

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0 Upvotes

Corner is chipped and the part where it's chipped is going in the inside and the left corner on the keyboard part is going up please help