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ChromeOS Flex disktype
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Mike Easter
Jul 15, 2022, 10:40:07 AM7/15/22
to
Google recently released ChromeOS Flex, an OS like ChromeOS for PCs &
Macs, ostensibly its purpose might seem to be to 'take over' machines
such as those at schools or businesses which Win 10 leaves behind
because the existing hardware doesn't do W10 or the org doesn't want to
buy licenses.
Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB to
boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system to a
USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome browser
extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the system to an
8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The resultant disk
structure of this bootable stick is strange.
--
Mike Easter
Macs, ostensibly its purpose might seem to be to 'take over' machines
such as those at schools or businesses which Win 10 leaves behind
because the existing hardware doesn't do W10 or the org doesn't want to
buy licenses.
Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB to
boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system to a
USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome browser
extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the system to an
8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The resultant disk
structure of this bootable stick is strange.
--
Mike Easter
Mike Easter
Jul 15, 2022, 10:54:12 AM7/15/22
to
Mike Easter wrote:
> The resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
$ sudo disktype /dev/sdc
> The resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
--- /dev/sdc
Block device, size 7.544 GiB (8100249600 bytes)
DOS/MBR partition map
Partition 1: 64 MiB (67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors from 102400, bootable)
Type 0x0C (Win95 FAT32 (LBA))
SYSLINUX boot loader
FAT16 file system (hints score 4 of 5)
Volume size 63.84 MiB (66942976 bytes, 32687 clusters of 2 KiB)
Volume name "EFI-SYSTEM"
Partition 2: 512 bytes (1 sectors from 1)
Type 0xEE (EFI GPT protective)
GPT partition map, 128 entries
Disk size 6.463 GiB (6939566592 bytes, 13553841 sectors)
Disk GUID 73359B13-567E-4F32-A9AC-56C992878F7F
Partition 1: 4.006 GiB (4301324800 bytes, 8401025 sectors from 5152768)
Type Unknown (GUID AF3DC60F-8384-7247-8E79-3D69D8477DE4)
Partition Name "STATE"
Partition GUID C9A7C684-159D-4448-8628-AC75727E41A0
Ext4 file system
Volume name "STATE"
UUID 8639CF77-84BB-42CB-8ED9-0A3AFD68A291 (DCE, v4)
Last mounted at "/mnt/stateful_partition"
Volume size 4 GiB (4294967296 bytes, 1048576 blocks of 4 KiB)
Partition 2: 16 MiB (16777216 bytes, 32768 sectors from 69)
Type Unknown (GUID 5D2A3AFE-324F-A741-B725-ACCC3285A309)
Partition Name "KERN-A"
Partition GUID FD3FBB9E-7FCD-41B5-B4D3-80D79F8D515E
Partition 3: 2.344 GiB (2516582400 bytes, 4915200 sectors from 237568)
Type Unknown (GUID 02E2B83C-7E3B-DD47-8A3C-7FF2A13CFCEC)
Partition Name "ROOT-A"
Partition GUID ACC3881E-00B5-4E8B-8795-186445DED7A1
Ext4 file system
Volume name "ROOT-A"
UUID nil
Last mounted at "/tmp/tmp.ROaCDGN84j"
Volume size 2.246 GiB (2411724800 bytes, 588800 blocks of 4 KiB)
Partition 4: 16 MiB (16777216 bytes, 32768 sectors from 32837)
Type Unknown (GUID 5D2A3AFE-324F-A741-B725-ACCC3285A309)
Partition Name "KERN-B"
Partition GUID FB6D4E71-56EA-418D-AD50-C79C7DA89B44
Partition 5: 2 MiB (2097152 bytes, 4096 sectors from 233472)
Type Unknown (GUID 02E2B83C-7E3B-DD47-8A3C-7FF2A13CFCEC)
Partition Name "ROOT-B"
Partition GUID 46EFDB1E-79F3-4F83-8B6E-6B89048B445C
Blank disk/medium
Partition 6: 512 bytes (1 sectors from 65)
Type Unknown (GUID 5D2A3AFE-324F-A741-B725-ACCC3285A309)
Partition Name "KERN-C"
Partition GUID E651A8CC-EA32-45B8-BDC4-D8F101FBF032
Blank disk/medium
Partition 7: 512 bytes (1 sectors from 66)
Type Unknown (GUID 02E2B83C-7E3B-DD47-8A3C-7FF2A13CFCEC)
Partition Name "ROOT-C"
Partition GUID A56B721A-8DDE-4012-921C-3F0BAD36DE71
Blank disk/medium
Partition 8: 16 MiB (16777216 bytes, 32768 sectors from 69632)
Type Unknown (GUID AF3DC60F-8384-7247-8E79-3D69D8477DE4)
Partition Name "OEM"
Partition GUID B00FC5CA-2969-4F97-BD02-087B6BEC035F
Ext4 file system
Volume name "OEM"
UUID ED587543-686A-4709-969D-7E4556154412 (DCE, v4)
Volume size 16 MiB (16777216 bytes, 4096 blocks of 4 KiB)
Partition 9: 512 bytes (1 sectors from 67)
Type Unknown (GUID 3D750A2E-489E-B043-8337-B15192CB1B5E)
Partition Name "reserved"
Partition GUID 8E49CEA7-8561-4157-B21A-610648144A6F
Blank disk/medium
Partition 10: 512 bytes (1 sectors from 68)
Type Unknown (GUID 3D750A2E-489E-B043-8337-B15192CB1B5E)
Partition Name "reserved"
Partition GUID 8421E36A-4E0E-4D74-8C10-5C0D14F471E6
Blank disk/medium
Partition 11: 512 bytes (1 sectors from 64)
Type Unknown (GUID 8EE8B6CA-F3AB-0241-A07A-D4BB9BE3C1D3)
Partition Name "RWFW"
Partition GUID 82459FA4-9FDA-4A8E-AD9E-031AB8298091
Blank disk/medium
Partition 12: 64 MiB (67108864 bytes, 131072 sectors from 102400)
Type EFI System (FAT) (GUID 28732AC1-1FF8-D211-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B)
Partition Name "EFI-SYSTEM"
Partition GUID 6FCEA19D-AB5D-4215-ADA3-A1DE0F15079B
SYSLINUX boot loader
FAT16 file system (hints score 4 of 5)
Volume size 63.84 MiB (66942976 bytes, 32687 clusters of 2 KiB)
Volume name "EFI-SYSTEM"
Partition 13: unused
$
Also, if one looks at it w/ GPartEd, it gives two alerts, offering to
fix unused space, and 'can't have overlapping partitions'. The
appearance in GPartEd is very strange, as you might expect. Maybe I
should post a screenshot somewhere.
I have no idea why Google would want their bootable USB to be structured
like that. The stick boots and is similar to ChromeOS and its
utilities. It also syncs itself w/ my chromebook.
The first time I saw this situation, I tho't maybe the method of
creating the stick had some kind of trouble formatting the stick I used,
so I used another utility to format the stick and did the write all over
again; same result.
--
Mike Easter
Mike Easter
Jul 15, 2022, 11:35:06 AM7/15/22
to
Mike Easter wrote:
> The appearance in GPartEd is very strange, as you might expect. Maybe I
> should post a screenshot somewhere.
https://postimg.cc/SnwTKSb7
> The appearance in GPartEd is very strange, as you might expect. Maybe I
> should post a screenshot somewhere.
--
Mike Easter
Mike Easter
Jul 15, 2022, 1:26:27 PM7/15/22
to
Mike Easter wrote:
> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB to
> boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system to a
> USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome browser
> extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the system to an
> 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The resultant disk
> structure of this bootable stick is strange.
>
I was interested in making an .img or .iso from this USB, so I used
> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB to
> boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system to a
> USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome browser
> extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the system to an
> 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The resultant disk
> structure of this bootable stick is strange.
>
gnome-disks 'Create disk image' function on the device. That raw .img
is 8.1G. Isn't there some way to make that smaller? My plan is to put
it on a Ventoy stick.
--
Mike Easter
Mike Easter
Jul 15, 2022, 2:28:12 PM7/15/22
to
Mike Easter wrote:
>
> $ sudo disktype /dev/sdc
>
fdisk is a little more informative, it recognizes ChromeOS types, except
for p11, which gnome-disks calls ChromeOS firmware:
$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
The backup GPT table is not on the end of the device. This problem will
be corrected by write.
Disk /dev/sdc: 7.56 GiB, 8100249600 bytes, 15820800 sectors
Disk model: Storage Media
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 139B3573-7E56-324F-A9AC-56C992878F7F
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdc1 5152768 13553792 8401025 4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc2 69 32836 32768 16M ChromeOS kernel
/dev/sdc3 237568 5152767 4915200 2.4G ChromeOS root fs
/dev/sdc4 32837 65604 32768 16M ChromeOS kernel
/dev/sdc5 233472 237567 4096 2M ChromeOS root fs
/dev/sdc6 65 65 1 512B ChromeOS kernel
/dev/sdc7 66 66 1 512B ChromeOS root fs
/dev/sdc8 69632 102399 32768 16M Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc9 67 67 1 512B ChromeOS reserved
/dev/sdc10 68 68 1 512B ChromeOS reserved
/dev/sdc11 64 64 1 512B unknown
/dev/sdc12 102400 233471 131072 64M EFI System
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
$
But I don't see what caused gparted to say 'can't have overlapping
partitions' if I look at the start/end sector info.
--
Mike Easter
>
> $ sudo disktype /dev/sdc
>
fdisk is a little more informative, it recognizes ChromeOS types, except
for p11, which gnome-disks calls ChromeOS firmware:
$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
The backup GPT table is not on the end of the device. This problem will
be corrected by write.
Disk /dev/sdc: 7.56 GiB, 8100249600 bytes, 15820800 sectors
Disk model: Storage Media
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 139B3573-7E56-324F-A9AC-56C992878F7F
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdc1 5152768 13553792 8401025 4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc2 69 32836 32768 16M ChromeOS kernel
/dev/sdc3 237568 5152767 4915200 2.4G ChromeOS root fs
/dev/sdc4 32837 65604 32768 16M ChromeOS kernel
/dev/sdc5 233472 237567 4096 2M ChromeOS root fs
/dev/sdc6 65 65 1 512B ChromeOS kernel
/dev/sdc7 66 66 1 512B ChromeOS root fs
/dev/sdc8 69632 102399 32768 16M Linux filesystem
/dev/sdc9 67 67 1 512B ChromeOS reserved
/dev/sdc10 68 68 1 512B ChromeOS reserved
/dev/sdc11 64 64 1 512B unknown
/dev/sdc12 102400 233471 131072 64M EFI System
Partition table entries are not in disk order.
$
But I don't see what caused gparted to say 'can't have overlapping
partitions' if I look at the start/end sector info.
--
Mike Easter
Paul
Jul 15, 2022, 8:38:07 PM7/15/22
to
On 7/15/2022 10:40 AM, Mike Easter wrote:
> Google recently released ChromeOS Flex, an OS like ChromeOS for PCs & Macs, ostensibly its purpose might seem to be to 'take over' machines such as those at schools or businesses which Win 10 leaves behind because the existing hardware doesn't do W10 or the org doesn't want to buy licenses.
>
> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB to boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system to a USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome browser extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the system to an 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
Google bought Neverware.
> Google recently released ChromeOS Flex, an OS like ChromeOS for PCs & Macs, ostensibly its purpose might seem to be to 'take over' machines such as those at schools or businesses which Win 10 leaves behind because the existing hardware doesn't do W10 or the org doesn't want to buy licenses.
>
> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB to boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system to a USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome browser extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the system to an 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
Neverware made the boot image in your hand.
I installed ChromeOS on my test machine, back when
NeverWare was still its own company. It installed 100%
correct on the Test Machine, and failed dismally on a
second PC, at which point I erased my install media.
Your media layout looks similar to an installed
ChromeOS. When installed on your test machine,
ChromeOS will take over the disk. Don't use a disk
with some Linuxes on it you want to keep. I don't
think it is designed to share.
What you're looking at, is likely to be an installer
and not a live session.
Write down somewhere, what gmail account you associated
with the install, so you can remember later if setting
up another one of those machines.
This is not like your regular media, and should be
archived for offline storage instead. I think that's all
that is left of mine, is a media file somewhere if I
"need it" again. I would not even bother wasting time
fitting it to Ventoy.
Do a test install, and see if it even works. My previous
track record was 50%, and as soon as the second install failed,
that's all I needed to know at that point.
Paul
Marco Moock
Jul 16, 2022, 1:55:05 AM7/16/22
to
Am Freitag, 15. Juli 2022, um 07:40:03 Uhr schrieb Mike Easter:
> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB
> to boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system
> to a USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome
> browser extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the
> system to an 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The
> resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
Does that also work if the user is running Chrome inside a Container
> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB
> to boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system
> to a USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome
> browser extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the
> system to an 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The
> resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
like snap?
This is common for Ubuntu at this time.
Mike Easter
Jul 16, 2022, 11:12:25 AM7/16/22
to
actually did it w/ a Win7 Chrome browser as a non-admin user; at one
point in the operation it was necessary to give the 'process' admin
privileges, such as writing to the USB.
--
Mike Easter
Mike Easter
Jul 16, 2022, 11:24:21 AM7/16/22
to
Paul wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote:
>> Google recently released ChromeOS Flex, an OS like ChromeOS for PCs &
>> Macs, ostensibly its purpose might seem to be to 'take over' machines
>> such as those at schools or businesses which Win 10 leaves behind
>> because the existing hardware doesn't do W10 or the org doesn't want
>> to buy licenses.
>>
>> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB
>> to boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system
>> to a USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome
>> browser extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the
>> system to an 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The
>> resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
>
> Google bought Neverware.
>
> Neverware made the boot image in your hand.
>
Neither article I read told me how much G paid for N; except that G had
> Mike Easter wrote:
>> Google recently released ChromeOS Flex, an OS like ChromeOS for PCs &
>> Macs, ostensibly its purpose might seem to be to 'take over' machines
>> such as those at schools or businesses which Win 10 leaves behind
>> because the existing hardware doesn't do W10 or the org doesn't want
>> to buy licenses.
>>
>> Rather than simply release an .iso or .img that one can write to USB
>> to boot a live session, G has a funky method of providing its system
>> to a USB stick to boot. It is necessary to use a ChromeOS or Chrome
>> browser extension, the Chrome Recovery Utility, to dl and write the
>> system to an 8G minimal USB, which process is very slow. The
>> resultant disk structure of this bootable stick is strange.
>
> Google bought Neverware.
>
> Neverware made the boot image in your hand.
>
provided startup money for N in the first place.
> I installed ChromeOS on my test machine, back when
> NeverWare was still its own company. It installed 100%
> correct on the Test Machine, and failed dismally on a
> second PC, at which point I erased my install media.
>
hardware, and they named a class of devices which would not.
> Your media layout looks similar to an installed
> ChromeOS. When installed on your test machine,
> ChromeOS will take over the disk. Don't use a disk
> with some Linuxes on it you want to keep. I don't
> think it is designed to share.
>
> What you're looking at, is likely to be an installer
> and not a live session.
>
intended to be installed and updated like ChromeOS is.
> Write down somewhere, what gmail account you associated
> with the install, so you can remember later if setting
> up another one of those machines.
>
> This is not like your regular media, and should be
> archived for offline storage instead. I think that's all
> that is left of mine, is a media file somewhere if I
> "need it" again. I would not even bother wasting time
> fitting it to Ventoy.
>
> Do a test install, and see if it even works. My previous
> track record was 50%, and as soon as the second install failed,
> that's all I needed to know at that point.
>
past its updating, so it is going to get converted to a linux like
Gallium soon.
I suppose it might run Flex; I wonder if G intends or 'unintends' old
chromeos devices to continue to run an updatable Flex.
--
Mike Easter
Andrei Z.
Jul 17, 2022, 5:41:46 AM7/17/22
to
Download
Unzip
Rename bin to img
Feed Ventoy
Mike Easter
Jul 17, 2022, 1:45:49 PM7/17/22
to
Andrei Z. wrote:
gnome-disks on the USB).
I haven't tested it yet. It seems that most linux distro/s squash things.
--
Mike Easter
> Mike Easter wrote:
>>>
>> I was interested in making an .img or .iso from this USB, so I used
>> gnome-disks 'Create disk image' function on the device. That raw .img
>> is 8.1G. Isn't there some way to make that smaller? My plan is to
>> put it on a Ventoy stick.
>>
> https://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chromeos/recovery/chromeos_14816.99.0_reven_recovery_stable-channel_mp-v2.bin.zip
>
>
> Download
> Unzip
> Rename bin to img
> Feed Ventoy
>
Thanks. That .bin is 6.5G instead of 7.5 (the above .img from
>>>
>> I was interested in making an .img or .iso from this USB, so I used
>> gnome-disks 'Create disk image' function on the device. That raw .img
>> is 8.1G. Isn't there some way to make that smaller? My plan is to
>> put it on a Ventoy stick.
>>
> https://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chromeos/recovery/chromeos_14816.99.0_reven_recovery_stable-channel_mp-v2.bin.zip
>
>
> Download
> Unzip
> Rename bin to img
> Feed Ventoy
>
gnome-disks on the USB).
I haven't tested it yet. It seems that most linux distro/s squash things.
--
Mike Easter
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