What is ChromeOS Flex?
Try the cloud-first, fast, easy-to-manage, and secure Chrome OS for PCs and Macs. Chrome OS Flex is a free and sustainable way to modernize devices you already own. It’s easy to deploy across your fleet or simply try it to see what a cloud-first OS has to offer. -https://chromeenterprise.google/os/chromeosflex/
Things You Will Need
Creating the Installation Media
PRO TIP: I repeatedly had issues booting the flash drive created by the Chromebook Recovery Utility. I found that the utility downloads ChromeOS Flex to the user's local temp directory (%temp% or %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Temp). Browse through the scoped_dir directories to find the compressed ChromeOS Flex image. I grabbed the file and used Balena Etcher to write it to a flash drive to correct the booting issue
Open a Chromium based browser, install the Chromebook Recovery Utility extension
In Brave Browser, open a new tab and navigate to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions
Search for Chromebook Recovery
Click on Chromebook Recovery Utility
Click the Add to Brave button > Click Add Extension to confirm
After the extension installs, click the puzzle piece next to the hamburger menu > Click Chromebook Recovery Utility to launch it
Inside the Chromebook Recovery Utility click the Get started button
Click the Select a model from a list link
Select Google Chrome OS Flex from the manufacturer dropdown
Select Chrome OS Flex from the product dropdown > Click Continue
Select the USB flash device to write ChromeOS Flex to > Click Continue > Click Create now
Wait while Chrome OS Flex is written and verified
Once the flash drive is setup, remove it and plug it into a USB port on the Proxmox host
Creating the VM
Open a web browser and navigate to the ProxMox web UI https://ProxMoxDNSorIP:8006/
Click the Create VM button at the top right
On the General tab, name the VM ChromeOSFlex and set a VM ID (125 in this example) > click Next
On the OS tab select Do not use any media and set the Guest OS Type to Linux and Version to 5.x - 2.6 Kernel > click Next
On the System tab click Next
On the Hard Disk tab set the Bus/Device to SATA and the Disk size to 16 GiB > click Next
On the CPU tab set the number of CPU cores and the Type to host > click Next
On the Memory tab set the amount of memory to 4096 MiB > click Next
On the Network tab set the Model field to VirtIO (paravirtualized) > click Next
On the Confirm tab review the settings and click Finish
Select the newly created ChromeOSFlex VM from the left navigation panel
Select Hardware from the left sub-navigation menu
Double click Display to edit it
Set the Graphic card to VIRTIO-GPU > Click OK
Click the Add button > USB Device
Click the Use USB Vendor/Device ID option > Select the ChromeOS Flex USB flash drive created earlier > Click Add
Select Options from the left sub-navigation menu
Double click Boot Order
Check the Enabled box next to the attached USB device
Drag the USB device up to the top of the boot order > Click OK
Click the Start button in the top right of the screen
Click Console in the left sub-navigation menu
Setting Up ChromeOS Flex
After the Chrome splash screen displays, click the Get started button
Click Install CloudyReady 2.0 to select it > Click Next
Click Install CloudyReady 2.0
Click Install to confirm erasing the hard drive
After about two minutes the installation will complete and the VM will reboot
Right click on the VM name > Stop
Navigate back to the VM > Hardware section
Click the USB device to select it > Click the Remove button to detach to USB flash drive > Click Yes to confirm
Click the Start button in the top right of the screen
Click Console in the left sub-navigation menu
Click the Get started button
ChromeOS should detect the Ethernet connection > Click Next
Uncheck the Help improve ChromeOS option > Click Accept and continue
At the Who's using this Chrome device screen, select You > Click Next
Login with Google account credentials
At the Sync your Chrome device screen, click Accept and continue
Uncheck the Let Google use your hardware data option > Click Accept and continue
Select whether to use Google Assistant
Select whether to connect to your phone
Click Get started to complete setup
Welcome to ChromeOS Flex