Using Crosh - The Chrome OS Linux Console

The Cool n00B · September 30, 2014

All chromebooks come with something called "crosh" or Chrome Shell. To enter crosh, you can simply use the command ctrl+alt+the reload button (f3), which is located above the 4 key on your chrome book. Once that's done, you should see something like

Welcome to crosh, the Chrome OS developer shell.

If you got here by mistake, don't panic! Just close this tab and carry on.

Type 'help' for a list of commands.

crosh>

The first command that you should try is top. top is equivalent to the windows task manager. You can also try the tracepath command to see a list of ip addresses that your web browser would be going through to see that website. The LTT forums, for example go through 3. You can also ping with the ping command, or SSH without the ssh extension normally required with the ssh command. You can go here for a few lists:

http://www.howtogeek.com/170648/10-commands-included-in-chrome-oss-hidden-crosh-shell/

http://krypted.com/unix/helpful-chrome-os-shell-crosh-commands/

You can also get access to even more commands by going into developer mode. To launch developer mode, hold the keys esc and the foward button (f2) and then tap the power key. This will launch it into recovery mode. Now press ctrl and "d" together, then press return. Now press ctrl + d again, and after 30 seconds your chromebook should be in developer mode. For more instructions on developer mode, head to http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices.