Setting up a Crouton desktop under new conditions

[CroutonIsFun]

What follows is a delightfully sneaky solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem: You can't sudo in the crosh shell, you can sudo in VT-2; however, VT-2 does not support an X session

Bare bones: Set up crouton in VT-2, run sshd, then from crosh shell ssh into localhost and startup your desktop!

For some of you, the above will suffice. Here is a more detailed explanation:

In the crosh shell, sudo is now a privileged command, and will not work. So, to set up crouton, you have to use VT-2, which is accessed with Ctrl-Alt-F2 (right arrow). Once there, login as chronos. No password is needed unless you previously set one.

If you have chroots which did not get setup correctly, now is a good time to clean them up with

sudo delete-chroot foo

Note: foo is a placeholder for the chroot name.

Note: There have been reports of sudo not working in VT-2. Apparently, this was unintentional, and is in the process of being fixed.

Now, you can start from scratch with the following command:

sudo CROUTON_BRANCH=silence crouton -r xenial -t xfce

However, I recommend that you use Debian bullseye or Ubuntu focal: in my experience, they both work well.

Once the chroot is installed, you will enter your username and password. Enter the command sudo enter-chroot and continue as below.

If you need direct access to your cdrom or sound card, use the following commands to add your username to the appropriate entry in /etc/group:

sudo adduser foo cdrom and
sudo adduser foo hwaudio

As always, foo is a placeholder; in this case, it represents your username.

Now, while you're still in the chroot, install ssh:

sudo apt install ssh

ssh will generate a key.

At this point, you need to exit your chroot, and the re-enter with

sudo enter-chroot

Final step here in VT-2 is to activate ssh with this command:

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh/start

Note: you can automate the above by creating the following file as /etc/rc.local:

#!/bin/sh -e
#
/etc/init.d/ssh start &
exit 0

For example, after sudo nano /etc/rc.local you would create the above file, then after saving it as you exit the editor, you need to make it executable with
sudo chmod 755 /etc/rc.local

Now exit your chroot and jump back in with sudo enter-chroot

Stay inside your chroot, and get back to ChromeOS by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1 (left arrow).

Now press Ctrl-Alt-T to get into crosh, then type shell and press ENTER.

To fire up your Xsession, first enter this command to get into your chroot:

ssh foo@localhost and press ENTER

Note: foo is a placeholder for your username.

Now, enter the command startxfce4 and press ENTER. The desktop should launch, and you can do first time stuff, etc.

To exit your chroot, first click on the exit command from your desktop menu, then press Ctrl-D to get completely out.

If you feel safe, you can leave your chroot running in VT-2; however, you can certainly go back there and Ctrl-D from the chroot, then Ctrl-D from VT-2.

[dnschneid]

Thanks for the writeup! A couple corrections:

If you have chroots which did not get setup correctly, now is a good time to clean them up with

sudo rm -R /mnt/stateful_partition/crouton/chroots/*

It's better to use delete-chroot to clean up chroots; there's some safeties in there to prevent things from going nuts if you happend to have something mounted.

Then go, sudo nano /etc/group and add your username to cdrom. Also, if you're planning on accessing your sound card, add your username to the hwaudio group.

You shouldn't need to edit /etc/group directly. Instead, sudo adduser username group will add your user to the specified group.

ssh -X foo@localhost and press ENTER

-X is not needed (but harmless), since you don't have an X server running in Chromium OS.

You can automate some stuff; adding the ssh start command (without sudo) to your /etc/rc.local will ensure it launches when you start your chroot. Running something like sudo enter-chroot -b sleep inf in vt-2 will run the /etc/rc.local (if the chroot isn't launched already) then fork into the background indefinitely. You can also play with profiles in the SecureShell app to make shortcuts to the various commands you run to start your graphical session.

[CroutonIsFun]

Thank you kindly! I have edited my how-to to reflect these corrections.

[nebcanuck]

This is very helpful, thank you! I'll give it a try in the near future.

[CroutonIsFun]

@nebcanuck

You are very welcome. @dnschneid gave out the idea kernel, and I ran with it. :)

[CroutonIsFun]

@dnschneid

A few things I've noticed:

1. F̶o̶r̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶h̶r̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶g̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶̶s̶u̶d̶o̶ ̶e̶n̶t̶e̶r̶-̶c̶h̶r̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶-̶b̶ ̶i̶n̶f̶̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶e̶c̶t̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶s̶s̶h̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶n̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶j̶e̶c̶t̶e̶d̶.̶ oops, I left out the sleep ;-) Yeah, this is useful, because I can log out of VT-2 and the chroot keeps running. Then, if I wish to end my Xsession and exit the chroot completely in the crosh shell, I can jump back in with having to restart everything from scratch. Thanks! To terminate the chroot, use sudo unmount-chroot foo -f -y back in VT-2.
2. A̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶s̶h̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶c̶h̶r̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶X̶s̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶l̶o̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶:̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶C̶h̶r̶o̶m̶e̶O̶S̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶x̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶k̶t̶o̶p̶.̶ ̶P̶r̶e̶s̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶C̶t̶r̶-̶A̶l̶t̶-̶S̶h̶i̶f̶t̶-̶F̶1̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶o̶p̶ ̶v̶i̶e̶w̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶r̶o̶s̶h̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶l̶l̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶g̶h̶e̶r̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶h̶r̶a̶s̶e̶,̶ ̶"̶c̶h̶r̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶j̶a̶i̶l̶"̶.̶ ̶:̶-̶)̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶r̶o̶u̶t̶o̶n̶ ̶e̶x̶t̶e̶n̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶b̶a̶s̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶a̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶Ugh, I'm not sure what I was seeing. Ctrl-Alt-Shift-F1 allows me to see the crosh shell as well as my ChromeOS desktop behind it, unless I go full-screen. But I can still see my icons which are pinned to the taskbar.

[dnschneid]

1. you can also do something like pkill sleep and it should terminate the enter-chroot command and go through the standard unmount process
2. Crouton extension doesn't factor into the chroot/chromeos cycling. It's for clipboard sync and xiwi. I'm not sure what you mean by "top view of the crosh shell, but no higher". Is it sending you to VT2 or something?

[CroutonIsFun]

Duhhh, my bad. I've lined out my comments above. I thought I couldn't get back to chromeOS. I'm looking at the crosh shell right now, and the desktop is behind it. So, I think the crouton extension is useful after all. Gee, I don't take hallucinogens either ;-O

[CroutonIsFun]

In regards to automating crouton, here is the pertinent portion of my .bashrc in ChromeOS:

# Put your fun stuff here.
alias Go="sudo enter-chroot -n focal -b sleep inf"
alias Stop="sudo unmount-chroot focal -f -y"
alias Crouton="sudo CROUTON_BRANCH=silence crouton"
alias Foo="ssh xxxxx@localhost"

The 1st 3 aliases are designed to be executed in VT-2, and the 4th is for the crosh shell. Then, inside my chroot, I have a .bashrc with the following command:

alias Go="startxfce4 2>/dev/null"

So, now, it is super easy to start and stop crouton and company :-)

Old school crackers and hackers would not approve of my using caps in commands. I do this to be sure to avoid interfering with builtin Linux commands.

[DennisLfromGA]

FYI:

In my experience, if you first sign-in to your (owner) profile and then login as 'chronos' on VT-2 all of your bash environment will load, like ~/.bashrc, ~/.bash_aliases, etc. so you can set up your aliases in your owner's profile (chronos shell).

-DennisLfromGA

[CroutonIsFun]

Yeah, I agree with this! At first I was scared of VT-2, due to never really needing it. But yeah, it is integrated well with your profile. The only thing I miss is being able to copy and paste from the browser. So I copy the browser command, paste it into a text file using the Text app, then display in VT-2 with something like:

cat ~/Downloads/foo.txt

Then, at least I can see it, and retype it. I think there is a way to get a text string into a command, but I haven't figured it out yet.

You know what? Screw that! It is so simple to create aliases, and copy & paste works in the crosh shell, so for example, here is the command for the MrChromebox script:

alias MrC="cd; curl -LO mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh"

And yes, this works in VT-2. As you said, first sign-in to your profile, then login as chronos on VT-2. If you just created an alias, then exit the shell and jump back in. And if you were already in VT-2, just sign-out and back in.

QED --- now it's a permanent part of my profile. I always back up my .bashrc to an external drive in case I have to powerwash the Chromebook.

[DennisLfromGA]

@CroutonIsFun,

Then, at least I can see it, and retype it. I think there is a way to get a text string into a command, but I haven't figured it out yet.

You can execute a text string in a file in the Dev Console (VT-2) like this: $(cat ~/Downloads/foo.txt)

-DennisLfromGA

[yaboiwillss]

Im still having troubles i enter sudo /etc/init.d/ssh/start it says command not found i have done everything that has been said but this still shows up anything that i can do?

[BlackSwordmanKirito]

@CroutonIsFun

i have done that and its installed but for some reason the command still is not found

it is sudo /etc/init.d/ssh/start right? maybe theres a different folder ill see rq by cd'ing and listing

also ignore the username its old lmao

edit: so aparently ssh isnt a directory its green so i assume ssh is a file?

edit 2: so sudo /etc/init.d/ssh promped the usage so im getting somewhere. doing sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start does nothing

prompting for status also does nothing ill try rebooting and see if its the same behavior

edit 3: even after rebooting doing any ssh commands fail to do anything they just make a new line? are we missing a step? you said above that ssh makes credentials are those important?

edit 4: surprisingly if i try to run sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start without sudo it throws this: mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/run/sshd': permission denied

this bellow is as far as i can seem to figure out . . . whatever is happening something isn't working here ssh is bugged.

i did create that directory (sshd) and ran it without sudo and something happened finally

this is what it says now:

/etc/init.d/ssh start
* Starting OpenBSD Secure Shell Server sshd
Could not load host key: etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
Could not load host key: etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
Could not load host key: etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key
Could not load host key: etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key
[ OK ]

idk what to do anymore 💀

edit 5 (last edit): i decided to check if the keys existed and they do. idk why but they just wont load and using sudo results in nothing happening . . . so weird

[BlackSwordmanKirito]

@CroutonIsFun i tried doing everything i could but nothing is working. i also learned that my chromebook is using port 22 by default on crosh and idk how to well fix that either. ik that port 22 and 2222 are off limits so yeah.

i'd love a response asap on what you think wtf is happening here. i'm pretty tech savvy but even this has me scratching my head. i have never had so many issues before . . .

edit: though for clarification i havent ever had to try to set up a ssh on a chromebook sooooo 👀

[CroutonIsFun]

Sorry, I've been away for a while. First, you must install ssh. Although most basic Linux installs give you the ssh client, you need your Chromebook to be a server. So, from inside your chroot, it's sudo apt install ssh

Only after this can you go, sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start and you should not have to create any extra directories.

Yeah, port 22 is the default. You're not able to connect to port 22 because ssh has not yet been installed. At least, this is what your evidence is telling me.

I've been a bit depressed, because it seems like everyone has given up on Crouton. I don't yet consider it to be a lost cause, but it seems a lot of folks are moving on.

[tom0921]

Thank you for this terrific tutorial! I finally got Crouton completely working and am thrilled!

[BlackSwordmanKirito]

@CroutonIsFun i did install ssh, and after i did that i tried to run yk what you told me to do.

i checked and it says i can't install something that's installed already. i created the directory because it wouldn't let ssh do it itself without sudo yet the sudo command was doing nothing in my terminal.

once again i will clarify i did EVERY step as instructed but for some reason my chromebook well failed to do anything. in fact the last part proved i had ssh installed because it finally attempted to run the ssh server after the folder was created and not using sudo. i assume whats missing is something is supposed to be in the /var/run/sshd folder?

anyways point is:

1. sudo apt install ssh - this was installed and is still installed in my chroot
2. sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start - this does work but does nothing and i mean nothing. it throws no directories instantly goes to the next line and throws no errors.
3. i tried to debugging and thats where i got. ssh is installed, the command does nothing

i assume my sudo command is failing to work properly thats all i have. just for saying what you said to do it says ssh is already on the newest version. for now im just giving up on trying to get crouton working if the ssh fails to work, as i have no other way of accessing ubuntu at the moment. i do want to have crouton back as it was one of my favorite things about my chromebook.

[CroutonIsFun]

@BlackSwordsman

I'm completely baffled by what you said. I believe you. After starting ssh, did you go over to the crosh shell and attempt to ssh into your chroot?

[Apocalypse10110]

@CroutonIsFun I did what your tutorial said. Extremely helpful. However, whenever I try to start it from chros only the top part of it loads showing a thin about 10-millimeter line. In addition, nothing works, the only way I can get out is by doing the command to restart. Please help, thank you.

[BlackSwordmanKirito]

i did and it gave me the error of not being able to start ssh because of 2 reasons, one being something i dont remember and the other is because it was using port 22 either way until a new easier method is found i might just not have a chroot, however if someone knows how to stop chromebooks from updating themselves, i have a recovery image that allows me to get crouton working as it should. ty for trying to help and trust me im not giving up so easily.

…

On Sun, Nov 19, 2023 at 5:21 PM CroutonIsFun ***@***.***> wrote: @BlackSwordsman <https://github.com/BlackSwordsman> I'm completely baffled by what you said. I believe you. After starting ssh, did you go over to the crosh shell and attempt to ssh into your chroot? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5013 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AOA3RAHQ3BLYOMMN75F7U5LYFKH6LAVCNFSM6AAAAAA5QAGGK6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43SRDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHM3TMMJTHA2DM> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[BlackSwordmanKirito]

(i tried sending this via email which is why its seperated @CroutonIsFun )

[DennisLfromGA]

@BlackSwordmanKirito,

however if someone knows how to stop chromebooks from updating
themselves ...

If you remove rootfs verification you can modify /etc/lsb-release to remove or just change:

• CHROMEOS_AUSERVER=https://tools.google.com/service/update2

To something nonsensical, then it won't update.

In recent versions you can enable the flag below:

#Show Metered Toggle
Shows a Metered toggle in the Network settings UI for WiFI and Cellular.
The toggle allows users to set whether a network should be considered metered for purposes of bandwith usage (e.g. for automatic updates). – ChromeOS

Then in your SSID configuration just toggle it ON:

-DennisLfromGA

[mintythephone]

when i select unity and enter the the chroot for some reason the command sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start shows no errors but nothing starts i installed ssh already

[propio1225]

Is there a way to adjust the volume to hwaudio(The chromebook)speakers? I did this sudo adduser foo hwaudio which got the sound working but didn't make the volume adjustable. I turned on pulseaudio with pulseaudio --start but that had no effect on its control, it remained at the same volume.

[mintythephone]

Guys Ive found a way to install Ubuntu 16.04 unity-desktop on crouton While also following some aspects of the guide

[Zeninari]

i cant believe it YOU ARE LEGENDS! it did work but um still the same issue as before, i get a blank ubuntu desktop on startup. any ideas on how to fix that?

edit: i fixed it using this:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

the ubuntu plugin wasnt enabled . . . idk how thats even possible after a fresh install but aparently it can happen!

[mintythephone]

thanks please note there will be some issues like the Ubuntu desktop being blank

[mintythephone]

I've got tired of gnome desktop until I found a way to run the Ubuntu desktop

[Zeninari]

im just glad that its working at all, as when the update happened that broke crouton i was sad, very sad.

i have my own pc now but doesn't mean i cant breathe new life into my dying chromebook using ubuntu. the chrome partition seems to be corrupted and idk how to fix it, but ubuntu is working fine. either way TY for this guide it means so much to me minty i mean it.

the last time i tried doing it i couldn't ssh that was the main issue. even though ssh was installed properly it wasnt allowing the ssh to make a connection at all, though i'm pretty sure you can find my long comment explaining the process i took if you want more details. anyways cheers mate thanks for the help!

edit: i used my old acc (@BlackSwordmanKirito) for the last response i did talking directly with @CroutonIsFun i wanted to change to my actual name, so there you go. btw now since i pinged you crouton, i do thank you for your time in trying to help me, it was greatly appreciated.

[Zeninari]

also i see a "how to fix this is just install compizconfig and enable the unity plugin and merge" from my email though i do not see it here as a comment so i assume you deleted it @mintythephone so ill explain it anyway just in case for others if they are stuck. as i was on the blank desktop.

first you need to make sure that the terminal can even be accessed if ctrl+alt+t does bring up the terminal your golden. insert as i said one by one:
sudo apt-get update
(if there is an update do sudo apt-get upgrade)
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

after its installed run it via the command line using ccsm

after that scroll to desktop, click on ubuntu unity plugin and there should be a checkbox for enabling it. i ignored any errors of things not working with the plugin ill deal with them later, but for now its working normally from what i can see (other than the audio which is either muted, low, or full blast)