ChromeOS takes up a small portion of the disk space on your hard drive for installation. This is because, unlike Windows, it does not support many application and program formats, but only the Chromium Web applications. Hence, if you are shifting from a Windows or a MacOS computer to a Chromebook, you may need some “getting used to.” Before you invest in purchasing a Chromebook, you can create a Virtual Machine (VM) on your existing computer and try out the ChromeOS. In this post, we are going to show you how to create a ChromeOS VM. Traditionally, ChromeOS needs specific hardware to run smoothly, therefore it cannot be installed like a regular ISO image in a hypervisor. A hypervisor is virtualization software that allows you to run and manage virtual machines on top of your existing operating system. However, since ChromeOS is based on an open-source project (Linux), Neverware CloudReady has created an Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) file for ChromeOS which you can use to deploy a ChromeOS VM.
What is OVA File
An Open Virtual Appliance file, also known as the “Open Virtual Application” file is a compressed TAR archive, which is a UNIX-based archiving format. The OVA file has the extension “.OVA” which usually contains multiple files inside. Some of the files you may find inside an OVA disk image are an OVF descriptor XML file, an MF manifest, a VMDK file, ISO files, and other resource files containing the metadata. OVA files can be used by hypervisors (Oracle VirtualBox and VMWare Workstation Player) to create a VM, since these support VMDK files. However, since Hyper-V does not support VMDK format, you cannot use an OVA file to create a Hyper-V VM. Instead, these need to be converted into VHD or VHDX formats. Note: The Neverware CloudReady ChromeOS OVA file given in the next section does not support Oracle VirtualBox. Therefore, at the time of writing this post, ChromeOS cannot be installed on VirtualBox. Since that is not our goal in this post, let us now show you how to create a ChromeOS virtual machine in VMWare Player.
How to Install ChromeOS on VMWare Virtual Machine
Before we begin, you must gather the following tools to create a VM on VMWare Player:
Download and install VMware Workstation Player.Download Neverware CloudReady ChromeOS OVA file.
Once both tasks have been completed, perform the following steps to create a ChromeOS virtual machine on VMWare Player: The ChromeOS virtual machine is now ready to run. You may now set it up according to your preferences and play around to learn whether it is your taste.
How to Install ChromeOS Virtual Machine on Hyper-V
Note: The following method successfully converted a VMDK file inside of an OVA file into a VHD format. However, when I attempted to use that VHD file to create a VM on Hyper-V, the became stuck on the boot page. Since an OVA file contains a VMDK file, it can be converted into VHD or VHDX format, which is supported by Microsoft Hyper-V, and create a VM. It is also possible to convert an OVA file directly into VHD or VHDX using third-party applications available online. However, it makes more sense to convert the only file needed for a VM, i.e., the VMDK file. Before we begin, you will need the following items to complete the process:
Download Neverware CloudReady ChromeOS OVA file.Hyper-V optional feature enabled.Download and extract Qemu-Img to convert VMDK to VHDDownload and install 7-zip to extract contents of the OVA file.
We have divided this portion into sections to make it more convenient and easier for you to understand.
Extract OVA File Contents
Perform the following steps to successfully extract the VMDK file inside the OVA file using 7-Zip archiver: Once extracted, you will see the VMDK file along with other content. Now you must convert this VMDK file into VHD using the Qemu-Img tool.
How to Convert VMDK to VHD format
There are several tools available to convert a VMDK file to VHD or VHDX, but we will be using the Qemu-Img tool to get the job done. Once the conversion is complete, you can find the converted VHD file at the designated location.
How to Create Hyper-V VM From VHD File
Now use this Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) file to create a ChromeOS VM on Hyper-V. Note: Virtualization must be enabled from the system BIOS and the Hyper-V optional feature must be enabled. Your VM is now ready to be used. Start the ChromeOS virtual machine and begin testing it out.
