How to create a Chromebook Recovery USB Drive

Written By: Jacob Mehnert
  • Comments: 7
How to create a Chromebook Recovery USB Drive

Difficulty

Very easy

Steps

5

Time Required

5 minutes

Introduction

If your Chromebook's operating system ever becomes corrupted or damaged, you can recover it using Google's Recovery Utility application. This process has the tool completely remove the currently installed OS and reinstalls it onto the device.

While Chrome OS is known for being a somewhat stable operating system there are moments when you would want to have a recovery drive handy. For example, you would want to use a recovery USB in one of the following scenarios...

  • You see this error message: "Chrome OS is missing or damaged"
  • Other troubleshooting steps have no effect on the immediate issue.

    • In order to make your recovery device, you will need the following items.

    • 1 x USB Drive or SD Card (8 GB is the minimum)

    • Any content that is stored on this drive will be erased during the next few steps. Be sure to back up any content you want saved, or make sure this is a drive you are going to use for future devices.

    • 1 x computer running the Google Chrome Browser, or Chrome OS.

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    • Open Google Chrome and navigate to the Chrome Web Store and download the Chromebook Recovery Utility extension.

    • Add the utility to Chrome and launch it. You will be greeted with this page.

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    • Click on "Get started" and you will be prompted to enter the model of your Chromebook.

    • You have the option of either entering the code that is on the device's recovery screen, or choosing from the model list.

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    • Plug in your spare 8 GB USB Drive and select it from the dropdown menu.

    • Any content that is stored on the drive will be erase during the next few steps. Make sure that the drive is empty, or does not have any data that you don't want to loose.

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    • You will be presented with a screen that shows the drive you selected. Click on the "Create now" button and the processes will begin.

    • Do not remove the drive while the process is taking place. The process will take about 5 minutes to complete and you will be prompted when the recovery drive is finished.

Conclusion

If you intend on reusing the drive for storing files you will need to use the Recover Utility application to erase the data on the drive, and you will need to reformat it with a recovery tool.

Author

Jacob Mehnert

Member since: 18/10/21

15589 Reputation

7 comments

Thanks only this is working all the other instructions on google didnt work… Direct and simple instructions

idide akeh -

I'm glad to hear that this guide helped you out!

Jacob Mehnert -

Hello....I followed all you said here yet my USB flash drives got corrupted after the recovery utility completed

Amos -

Hello, you might need to wipe the USB drive and attempt to install the recovery tool again. You might also want to check that the drive is formatted to FAT32. Other formats have been known to cause errors with the recovery tool.

Jacob Mehnert -

Does it matter if it’s a 2.0 or 3.0 USB drive???

Josh Knapp -

Hey there Josh,

Ideally you would want a USB 3.0 drive especially if the device that you are attempting to recover has USB 3.0. Hope this is helpful.

Jacob Mehnert -

Creates about 11 partitions on the USB? And CB311-10H isnt in the list?

nikki.k.85 -