Do you have an old laptop that runs painfully slow? Would you like to be able to use it without limitations? Meet ChromeOS Flex. You can use this software to boot up most ancient computers and turn them into chromebooks. Sounds like magic, right? Let’s see how it works.

Before we begin, a few important things to note. Firstly, make sure you have a flash drive and a computer in which you feel comfortable wiping the files of. Following these directions will wipe both the drive and computer. You may want to back up the computer’s files. Secondly, make sure your computer is certified in this official list: https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11513094?sjid=13597188064708854020-NA 

If it’s not, be careful; however, you may want to consider trying it knowing that it may not work. Proceed at your own risk and with caution.

First, you’ll need to take any working computer and get a Chrome extension named Chromebook Recovery Utility. Using this is the easiest way to get your ChromeOS Flex. Grab a flash drive that has 8 gigabytes or more of space on it, and you’ll want to make sure that it doesn’t have any files that you want. Downloading Flex onto any flash drive will wipe the drive’s contents no matter what.

Open into your new extension and make sure that your flash drive is plugged in. When prompted, input the manufacturer and product both as ChromeOS Flex. On the next screen, you’ll select your flash drive (make sure it’s the right one) and continue to the next step. The extension will proceed to install ChromeOS Flex on the drive, deleting everything on it.

Now take your old computer and turn it completely off. Insert your ChromeOS Flex-installed drive into it. Turn on the computer and immediately start spamming your computer’s boot key (if you don’t know what your boot key is, you can look it up). This is where the path splits. If your boot key opens the one-time boot menu, you can simply select the USB device. If it opens the BIOS/UEFI menu, you’ll need to find the settings related to boot or startup. Make sure your USB device is the first/primary device to boot up. You may also need to look up any computer-specific troubleshooting steps.

Your computer should now boot to ChromeOS. If you’re booting with the one-time boot menu, the change is only temporary. But if you’re booting with BIOS settings, it’s permanent until you configure it again. If it works, great, you’ve just upgraded your old laptop into a more lightweight and fast Chromebook.