How to Enable Developer Mode on Your Chromebook
To enable developer mode on a Chromebook:
What Is Developer Mode on Chromebooks?
Enabling developer mode is similar to jailbreaking an iPhone or rooting an Android phone. These devices only allow you to install approved apps and provide limited ability to change the system. When you enable developer mode, you gain a higher degree of control over your device. However, the Chromebook loses all of the security features built into Chrome OS.
What Can You Do With a Chromebook in Developer Mode?
The most important thing that changes when you enable developer mode is you gain access to the Chrome OS developer shell, also known as Crosh. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open Crosh in the Chrome browser. The developer shell allows you to perform advanced tasks like pinging an IP address or website, connecting to a Secure Shell (SSH) server, and running other Linux commands. These tasks are possible because Chrome OS is based on Linux. One useful thing that developer mode enables is the ability to install a Linux desktop environment on your Chromebook. You can retain the Chrome OS interface and switch to a full Linux environment whenever you need to do anything more complicated.
Problems With Chromebook Developer Mode
There are a few potential hazards to take into consideration before you enable developer mode:
Google doesn’t support it. You might void the warranty when you enable developer mode. This means you could be on your own if you have any problems with your Chromebook in the future.You lose all your data. Enabling developer mode deletes all the data you stored locally on your Chromebook. If you don’t back up everything, it’s gone forever.It’s easy to lose your data again. When you turn off developer mode, your data gets erased again. You can disable it by pressing the space bar while the Chromebook boots up, so it’s easy to wipe the hard drive by accident.It takes longer to boot up. Every time you boot up with developer mode on, you have to look at a warning screen.Your Chromebook is less secure. Chromebooks come with many safety features that are disabled when you turn on developer mode.
How to Disable Developer Mode
To disable developer mode, turn off the Chromebook and turn it back on, then wait for the screen that says OS verification is OFF and press the spacebar. Follow the on-screen prompts to set up your Chromebook again.
