Acer Chromebook C720 - ZHN - Linux Install

Installing Linux on a Chrombook is a great idea if you want to get more use out of it. This is especially true if your Chromebook is too old to receive updates.

WARNING - You could brick your device if you mess something up. People have already reported breaking their systems in the comments of my video below. Be careful and keep in mind that you could very well destroy your device ( you probably won’t if you do things correctly but this is always a risk ).

Series:	c720
Model:	ZHN
Cost on eBay:	US $34.86
With Tax:	US $37.95
Screen:	11.6”
CPU:	Intel Celeron 1.4GHz
RAM:	4GB RAM

Video Instructions - Keep Scrolling for Text

Backup First

Backup anything in your “Downloads” directory.
Create a recovery drive:
- Download “Chromebook Recovery Utility” from the web store

Enable Developer Mode

Shutdown your chromebook
Hold Esc + Refresh (F3) buttons and tap the power button
Press Ctrl+D when you see: “Chrome OS missing or damaged.”
Hit “Enter” to turn off OS verification.
Wait to start up
Login as guest or a normal user

Open a root shell and enable legacy mode

Ctrl+Alt+t to open a crosh terminal

Enable Legacy BIOS mode and USB boot: shell sudo bash crossystem dev_boot_usb=1 dev_boot_legacy=1

Disabling the Write Protect Screw and Setting BIOS Flags

WARNING - This will void your warranty but you probably don’t care with a laptop this old anyway.

This step is optional but really helpful.

Issues that are resolved by doing this:

Need to hold ctrl+l at every boot to boot from HD or USB

Pressing “space” at the start ups screen it could re-enable OS verification which would break the system and require you to re-install the OS.

Letting the battery run down to 0% can disable Legacy Mode which would then require an OS re-install.

Power off
Remove power cable
Remove 13 screws ( 1 hidden under warranty sticker )
Remove plastic covering
Remove write protect screw ( at the corner of the battery )
Put everything back together
Boot back up

To disable write protect and set legacy boot to default so it won’t be lost by power loss open a shell ( Ctrl+Alt+t ) and run the following commands. Pay attention to the output.



shell
sudo bash
flashrom --wp-disable
/usr/share/vboot/bin/set_gbb_flags.sh 0x489

Boot and install Linux using a USB drive as you normally would.
- NOTE - press the escape key to open the boot menu
- DON’T press the space bar on boot.

Peppermint OS:

Arch Linux on my Chromebook: