Chromebooks are very fast becoming some of the best selling laptops. The run on Chrome OS which is very different to those of Mac OS and windows. Here I am going to walk you through the process of rebooting. Both soft and hard reboots.

Soft rebooting

A soft reboot is simply turning off your Chromebook and then turning it back on again. There are three ways to perform a soft reboot on your Chromebook:

  • Click on the right in the bottom right hand corner, click on the power icon. This will turn off the Chromebook, To turn it back on press the power key on the keyboard.
  • Again on the bottom right hand side of the screen, click on the time. Now select sign out, once you have signed out, click on the option that says ‘Shut Down’, as the name suggests it will shut down the Chromebook. To turn it back on and complete the reboot, again press the power button.
  • Third, but the least recommended method is turning it off simply by holding down the power key until it turns off. This is not advisable because it will not save any unsaved work and could also corrupt and ongoing updates or downloads. Other methods will at least prompt you if you want to save any unsaved work. As with the other methods, to turn it back on, press the power key again.

Hard rebooting

TIP – Before you factory reset, unless you want to completely wipe all the files (because of a virus for example) you will want to make sure you have backed up all files you are wishing to keep.

Method one

There are two methods to hard reboot your Chromebook. The first method and probably the simplest is the following. Sign out of your profile, when at the log in page, press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R. Select restart. A box will appear, when it does select ‘Powerwash’ and then click continue. Follow the steps and you will have performed a hard reboot on your Chromebook. The next thing it will prompt is for the new owner to sign in to their Google Account.

TIP – Hard reboots can take some time as there may be a large number of files it has to clear before it turns back on. Give it some time and it will be okay.

Method two

For the second method, sign into your Chromebook profile. In the bottom right hand corner, click on the time. Now on the Settings cog icon. Scroll all the way down the settings. You will notice a piece of text saying ‘Advanced’ you want to the click this as it opens up the advanced settings. There is a section titled ‘Powerwash’, select that and click the resart option. A box will appear, in which you want to click continue. Follow the steps that comes next and then the next time it turns on you will be prompted to sign into your Google account and set up the Chromebook as new.

Where is the Chromebook reset button?

Hard reset your Chromebook

Most Chromebooks don’t have a dedicated ‘reset‘ button (some provide other options we’ll cover in a moment) the default method is to hold the ‘refresh’ button and tap the power button.

How do I reset my school Chromebook?

Factory reset your Chromebook
  1. Sign out of your Chromebook.
  2. Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Shift + r.
  3. Select Restart.
  4. In the box that appears, select Powerwash. Continue.
  5. Follow the steps that appear and sign in with your Google Account.
  6. Once you’ve reset your Chromebook:

How do you restart a crashed Chromebook?

For most Chromebooks, follow the steps below: Turn off your Chromebook. Press and hold Refresh + tap Power . When your Chromebook starts up, release Refresh .

Other ways to hard reset

  1. Turn off your Chromebook.
  2. Remove the battery, then put it back in.
  3. Turn on your Chromebook.

How do I start my Chromebook in recovery mode?

Enter recovery mode: Chromebook: Press and hold Esc + Refresh , then press Power . Let go of Power. When a message shows on the screen, let go of the other keys.

What will I lose if I powerwash my Chromebook?

A Powerwash factory reset erases all the information on your Chromebook’s hard drive, including your settings, apps, and files. The factory reset won’t delete any of your files on Google Drive or an external hard drive. Before performing the reset, back up your files on Google Drive or an external hard drive.

How do you get to the boot menu on a Chromebook?

To boot your Chromebook anyway, you’ll need to press Ctrl+D when you see this screen. That’ll let you quickly boot without hearing the annoying beep. You could also just wait a few more seconds — after beeping at you a bit, your Chromebook will boot automatically.

Why would a Chromebook not turn on?

There are a number of reasons why your Chromebook isn’t turning on. You could, for example, be dealing with a faulty power outlet or charger — but there could be a more difficult problem, like an issue with the startup routine, that’s preventing it from turning on.

Can you boot a Chromebook from USB?

Enable USB boot

Pressing Ctrl+D at the screen with the red exclamation mark on startup will take you to your Chrome OS install but pressing Ctrl+L will take you to the BIOS screen to boot from your USB drive. Press Ctrl+Alt+F2 at the Chrome OS login screen.

Do Chromebooks have a BIOS?

If you’ve tampered with your Chromebook—to install Windows on your Chromebook, for example—you may have replaced its BIOS with a third-party option. The following guide is intended for those that have installed a different BIOS and operating system altogether.

How do you boot a Chromebook offline?

To enable Drive offline, each individual user must log in to their Drive account, visit Drive settings (look for the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen), and check the box that says “Enable offline access.” A copy of your entire Google Drive account will be downloaded locally on your Chromebook for use

What is F2 on a Chromebook?

Now, open “Keyboard” and then enable “Treat top-row keys as function keys”. 2. This will turn the top-row keys as F1, F2 and so on starting with the left-arrow key. Basically, now you can use Windows and programming shortcuts comfortably on your Chromebook.

What does the F7 key do?

The F7 key is commonly used to spell check and grammar check a document in Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, and other Office products. Shift + F7 runs a Thesaurus check on the highlighted word.

How do I turn off Fn key on Chromebook?

Turning Chromebook’s Shortcut Keys into Function Keys
  1. Click the Settings panel in the bottom right corner of your Chromebook screen.
  2. In the resulting Settings menu, choose Settings.
  3. Scroll down to the Device section and click Keyboard Settings.
  4. Check the Treat Top-Row Keys as Function Keys checkbox.
  5. Click OK.

What key is Fn?

Simply put, the Fn key used with the F keys across the top of the keyboard, provides short cuts to performing actions, such as controlling the brightness of the screen, turning Bluetooth on/off, turning WI-Fi on/off.

How do you undo a Chromebook key without breaking it?

Which button is F5 on Chromebook?

The switch window key is usually found in the F5 spot on a Chromebook keyboard. Combined with the Ctrl key, it takes a screenshot of your entire desktop and saves it to your Downloads folder.