How to Create a CloudReady Chromium OS Installer on a USB Drive
This process is a little different on Windows than it is on MacOS and Chrome OS, and Neverware recommends that you use Windows for this step even if you aren’t planning on installing CloudReady on a Windows computer. If you have access to a Windows computer, the first step is to download the CloudReady USB maker from Neverware: Once you have downloaded the USB maker, you’re ready to create the USB installer. You will need an 8 or 16GB USB stick for this step. You will lose any data that’s stored on the USB stick, so back it up before you create your USB installer. Here’s how to create a USB installer for CloudReady:
What If You Only Have a Mac or Chromebook?
If you don’t have a Windows computer, you can still make a CloudReady USB installer. The process is a little more complicated, and Neverware recommends you use Windows instead, but it is possible. The first step is to download a CloudReady image to place on your USB stick: The next step requires you to have Chrome installed on your computer. This is a given if you’re using a Chromebook, but if you only have a Mac, and you don’t already have Chromium, you will need to install it before you proceed. Add the Chromebook recovery app:
How to Run CloudReady From a USB Drive
Once you have finished creating a CloudReady installation USB drive, you’re almost ready to go. The last thing you need to do is shut down the computer you want to use CloudReady on, and make sure that it is capable of booting from USB. If you insert the USB stick in your computer, and it boots to its normal operating system, you will need to change the boot order. Check out our guide to changing boot order in BIOS if you are unsure how to accomplish this. On a Mac, just hold down the option key when booting up and you’ll be given a choice of which device to use to boot your Mac. Here’s how to run Chromium OS from a USB stick via CloudReady: This will complete the setup of CloudReady. It’s ready to use in this state, and you can immediately start browsing the internet with Chrome, access your Google Drive files, and anything else you would normally do with a Chromebook.
Optional: Run CloudReady From USB Without Permanently Installing It
If you don’t want to permanently replace your existing operating system with CloudReady, you can simply leave the USB stick in your computer. Every time you turn it on, it will boot to CloudReady instead of the original operating system. If you ever want to use the original operating system, just turn off the computer, remove the USB stick, and turn the computer back on. Before you install CloudReady permanently, you will need to back up all of your files to the cloud or an external hard drive. You should then boot up CloudReady using the method that was described in the previous section. If your computer doesn’t operate normally when running CloudReady from the USB installer, permanently installing CloudReady won’t magically fix the problem. Make sure that all of your devices, including the keyboard, mouse or touchpad, Wi-Fi, and everything else functions normally. CloudReady is compatible with most computers, but some hardware just isn’t compatible with ChromeOS or CloudReady. If you find that your computer won’t connect to Wi-Fi, CloudReady probably doesn’t have a working driver for your Wi-Fi card. In that case, permanently installing CloudReady would be a bad idea. If CloudReady works well on your computer, installing it is extremely easy:
Chrome OS vs. Chromium OS
Chrome OS is based on Chromium OS. Chromium OS is an open-source project that anyone (really) can copy, modify, and use in any way they like. That means you could get pretty close to a Chrome OS experience by installing Chromium OS on a computer. It does take some rather technical expertise, however.
What Is CloudReady?
CloudReady is an operating system that is based on Chromium OS, just like Google’s official Chrome OS. Both Neverware and Google take the base code from the Chromium OS open source project and add their own proprietary code to create a working operating system. The advantage of CloudReady, in comparison to Chrome OS, is that you can install it on a wide variety of hardware. If you have an old Windows laptop or MacBook that has slowed down over time, you may be able to turn it into a very close approximation of a Chromebook by installing CloudReady. Because CloudReady isn’t as resource-intensive as modern versions of Windows and MacOS, you may see a performance improvement if you install it on an older computer or laptop.
