How to get Windows on Chromebook, and what each route costs

Why the Windows installer will not open

A Chromebook runs ChromeOS, and a Windows program is a file that ChromeOS cannot run. In a Microsoft Q&A thread from June 2024, the owner of a Lenovo Chromebook Duet downloaded Microsoft’s Windows 11 Installation Assistant and got this message from ChromeOS instead: “This file is designed for a PC using Windows software.” The answer the asker accepted, from an Independent Advisor (a volunteer, not Microsoft staff), adds a second obstacle: the tablet’s MediaTek Helio P60T processor is not on Microsoft’s list for Windows 11.

So the answers to can you install Windows on a Chromebook come in two families. In the first, Windows runs somewhere else, on a PC you own or in Microsoft’s cloud, and the Chromebook shows it in a window. ChromeOS stays exactly as it is, and nothing on the Chromebook is modified. In the second, ChromeOS is wiped and Windows is installed in its place, which is possible only on some models and is not supported by Google. A volunteer Product Expert on Google’s own forum put the situation plainly in April 2026: “There’s no simple way of running Windows on a Chromebook.”

If what you need is Word, Excel or Outlook

If the Windows program you need is Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook, there is a browser version. Microsoft’s support article on Chromebooks is explicit that the desktop versions cannot be installed: “You can’t install the Windows or Mac desktop versions of Microsoft 365 or Office 2016 on a Chromebook.” It adds that the Android versions of Office, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive are not currently supported on a Chromebook either.

What works is the web. Open Chrome, go to www.microsoft365.com, and sign in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and OneDrive open in the browser, and Outlook is at www.outlook.com. Microsoft says a free Microsoft account lets you view files and do basic editing; signing in with the account tied to a Microsoft 365 subscription unlocks the more advanced editing features. Microsoft suggests a shortcut or a bookmark for quick access.

Using a Windows PC you already own

If there is a Windows computer at home or at work, the Chromebook can show its screen and drive it. Windows itself never leaves that computer, which has to be switched on and reachable. There are two documented ways.

• Windows App, from Microsoft. Microsoft’s table of what Windows App connects to marks Remote PC as available on Android and Chrome OS, through the app from the Google Play Store, on Chrome OS 126 or later. The catch is on the other side: Microsoft’s Remote Desktop article says the PC you connect to must be running the Pro edition of Windows, while the device you connect from can run anything. Our page on Windows 11 Pro vs Home covers what the upgrade costs.
• Chrome Remote Desktop, from Google. On the Windows PC, go to remotedesktop.google.com/access and download the host under “Set up Remote Access”; then open the same address on the Chromebook, pick the computer and enter its PIN. Google’s help page covers Mac, Windows and Linux computers and names no Windows edition. It says every session is fully encrypted.

Renting a Windows PC in the cloud

With no Windows PC to connect to, Microsoft will rent one. Windows 365 gives each user a Cloud PC that runs in the Microsoft Cloud. Microsoft’s instructions for opening one list ChromeOS among the supported systems: you go to windows.cloud.microsoft in a browser such as Chrome and select Open in browser on the Cloud PC card.

The plans are sold to businesses and priced per user. On 22 October 2026 Microsoft’s Windows 365 Business page listed three plans, each a monthly subscription that renews automatically, for up to 300 users:

• 2 virtual processors, 8 GB of memory and 128 GB of storage: $36.00 per user per month;
• 4 virtual processors, 16 GB and 128 GB: $56.00;
• 8 virtual processors, 32 GB and 256 GB: $108.80.

The smallest of those can be tried free for up to 30 days, one trial per version for each customer, with a credit card; the subscription fee is charged when the trial ends unless you cancel. Microsoft also warns that when a subscription is cancelled, all associated data is deleted.

A school or work Chromebook

Google’s documented answer for organizations used to be Parallels Desktop for ChromeOS, which ran a full copy of Windows on the Chromebook itself. It needed a Parallels licence for every user, a Windows licence and an administrator to deploy a Windows image. That route has closed: Google’s administrator help says the product is being discontinued, and Parallels supported existing customers only until 21 April 2026.

The same Google page now points to Cameyo, which Google acquired in 2024. Cameyo does not install Windows: it delivers Windows programs from a server. Google says it turns any legacy application into a progressive web application that users open from the app shelf. Its help centre describes it as a platform for deploying apps on managed devices, set up from the Google Admin console. A student or employee cannot add it alone; the request goes to whoever manages the Chromebook.

The same applies to the other routes on this page. Google warns that on a work or school Chromebook you might not be able to use Linux, and Chrultrabook’s list of prerequisites for replacing ChromeOS begins with a Chromebook you own, because managed devices are unable to be modified.

Linux and WINE

The answer recommended in the Google forum thread names a middle route: WINE, from winehq.org, run inside the Linux development environment that ChromeOS can switch on. That part is documented by Google. Linux is off by default; to turn it on, go to Settings, then About ChromeOS, then Developers, and select Set up next to Linux development environment.

WINE itself is not part of Google’s documentation, and the volunteer who suggested it adds that it is not for beginners. We have not tested it, and whether a particular Windows program runs under it is a question for that program.

How to put Windows on a Chromebook in place of ChromeOS

This is the route the guides in Google’s results describe as how to install Windows on a Chromebook, and it is a firmware job before it is an operating system job. Google’s firmware boots ChromeOS through its own payload, so Windows needs different firmware. The usual replacement is the UEFI Full ROM firmware from the MrChromebox project, after which drivers from CoolStar and the Chrultrabook documentation take over. MrChromebox’s own flowchart is blunt: if you need Windows, you must use UEFI Full ROM. The steps, in the order the documentation gives them:

1. Check the model. MrChromebox firmware supports only Intel and AMD processors; ARM-based Chromebooks, such as the MediaTek Duet above, are not supported at all. Find the board name, which Chrultrabook says is shown at the bottom of the recovery screen or under HWID at chrome://system, and look it up on MrChromebox’s Supported Devices list and Chrultrabook’s device status page, which says how well Windows runs on it.
2. Back up and enable Developer Mode. Switching between normal and Developer Mode wipes all user data, and the battery must be plugged in. The ChromeOS developers’ own page warns that changes you make are “not supported by Google” and may void the warranty.
3. Turn off hardware write protection. Depending on the model this means removing a screw, disconnecting the battery, a jumper, a SuzyQ cable, or a gsctool command on models with the Ti50 security chip, generally those from 2023 on.
4. Flash the firmware. MrChromebox’s Firmware Utility Script installs UEFI Full ROM. This removes ChromeOS entirely, carries what the project calls a small risk of bricking the device, and going back means restoring the stock firmware from a backup. The project budgets one to three hours for the whole process.
5. Install Windows. Chrultrabook supports only recent Windows 10 and 11 builds, from a USB drive made with Ventoy, Rufus or Microsoft’s media creation tool, and warns against unofficial versions such as tiny11. For Windows 11 it documents two registry values that skip the TPM and Secure Boot checks during setup.
6. Add the drivers. MrChromebox says Windows support depends largely on CoolStar’s custom drivers for the touchpad, touchscreen and audio, which CoolStar lists by model, and some are paid: Chrultrabook lists the audio drivers for several Intel generations and the Thunderbolt 4 driver for Tiger Lake and Alder Lake as purchases.

The machine you end up with has gaps. Chrultrabook’s list of known issues under Windows: no fingerprint reader, no TPM 2.0, no IPU camera, and on some Chromebooks no touchpad in the installer. A licence for Windows itself is also needed, at Store prices our Windows 11 editions page lists. MrChromebox’s FAQ ends the question of buying a Chromebook for this: “Buying any Chromebook with the intention of running Windows or Linux is not a great idea.”

There is one case where the project sees value in it. A Chromebook that has reached the end of its update period, which MrChromebox says now runs to 10 years for newer devices, can carry on with another system instead of becoming e-waste.

Which route to take

• You need documents and email. Microsoft 365 in the browser; nothing to install.
• You need one program that only exists for Windows, and own a Windows PC. Connect to it from the Chromebook, with Chrome Remote Desktop or, if the PC runs Windows Pro, Windows App.
• You need Windows every day and have no PC. A Windows 365 Cloud PC works from the Chromebook’s browser, at a monthly price per user, with a 30-day trial of the smallest plan.
• The Chromebook belongs to a school or employer. Ask the administrator about Cameyo; do not try to modify it.
• Your own Intel or AMD Chromebook is out of updates, or you want the project. The firmware route, accepting the loss of ChromeOS, the warranty risk and the missing hardware.

If the Chromebook is also misbehaving, our pages on a Chromebook black screen and a glitching Chromebook screen cover the reset and Powerwash steps Google documents, which are worth trying before anything on this page.