Restore your Chromebook

Restore your Chromebook

If you see a message on your Chromebook saying “Chrome OS is missing or damaged,” you may need to reinstall the operating system through a process called recovery. (You can also recover without seeing this error, if you want.) With recovery, you’ll be able to restore your Chromebook to its factory settings and get it working like new.

Before you reinstall Chrome OS
Important: Reinstalling the operating system restores your Chromebook to the way it was when it was brand new. Unfortunately, this means all of your data will be erased.
First, try restarting your Chromebook by pressing and holding the Power button until it shuts down, then turning it back on again. If the message still appears, continue with the process.

Before you can reinstall Chrome OS, you’ll need to create recovery media with a USB flash drive or SD card. You’ll need a Chromebook, Windows, or Mac computer with administrative rights, and the Chromebook Recovery Utility. (Note that Mac support is coming soon. In the meantime you can follow the instructions below.)



Mac instructions

Click here to download the Recovery Tool: https://dl.google.com/dl/chromeos/recovery/chromeosimagecreator.dmg.
Run the tool and follow the instructions that appear on your screen.


Linux instructions

Click here to download the Recovery Tool: https://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chromeos/recovery/linux_recovery.sh
Change the script permissions to allow execution with the following command: $ sudo chmod 755 linux_recovery.sh
Run the script with root privileges with the following command: $ sudo bash linux_recovery.sh
Follow the instructions on your screen.
Once you have your recovery media ready, move to the next section.

Reinstall Chrome OS
At the “Chrome OS is missing or damaged” screen, insert the recovery media into the USB port or SD card slot on your Chromebook.
If you want, you can reinstall the operating system without seeing the error screen by going into recovery mode. See the “Troubleshooting tips” section below.
The operating system will install automatically. When it finishes, you’ll see a message to remove your recovery media.
After you remove the recovery media, your Chromebook will automatically restart.
Because all of your data has been cleared, you’ll need to sign in to your Chromebook as you did when it was new.

Chromebook Recovery solution

Chromebook Recovery solution

Use the Chromebook Recovery Utility

To quickly create recovery media in case you need to recover your Chromebook, use the Chromebook Recovery Utility.

Before you start
Before using the utility, make sure that you have:

A flash drive or other storage media that can hold at least 4GB (that you don’t mind clearing).
A Chromebook, Windows, or Mac computer with administrative rights. (Look for Windows and Mac support in Chrome versions M36 and M37.)
Create recovery media
To create the recovery media, follow the steps below.

Identify your Chromebook
Type in the model number of your Chromebook to get the correct recovery image. You can find the model number on the recovery screen if your Chromebook isn’t starting up.
Click the Continue button.
Insert your USB flash drive or SD card
Insert the storage media into an open port on your Chromebook, and the tool will automatically detect the media.
Use the dropdown menu to select the appropriate storage media.
Click the Continue button.
Create a recovery image
All of the data on the recovery media will be deleted if you continue.
Make sure the media you’d like to use for your recovery is listed.
Click the Create now button.
The tool will then create the recovery image on your selected media. Don’t remove the flash drive or SD card while this is happening. After you see the message saying that your recovery media is ready, you may remove it from your Chromebook.

To recover your Chromebook using your newly-created media, follow these instructions.

Erase recovery media
After you recover your Chromebook, you can use the Chromebook Recovery Utility to erase the USB or SD media so you can use it again–just follow the steps below:

Open the app and click the  gear icon.
Select “Erase recovery media.”
Select the recovery media you’d like to erase with the dropdown menu.
Click the Continue button.
Make sure the media you’d like to use for your recovery is listed. Remember, all of the data on the media will be erased.
Click the Erase now button.
The tool will then erase the recovery image on your selected media. Don’t remove the flash drive or SD card while this is happening. After you see the message saying that your recovery media is prepared for formatting, you may remove it from your Chromebook and format using a tool provided by your operating system.