✨ what’s crosboot?
If you’re looking to switch up the look of your ChromeOS bootsplash screen, crosboot is your new go-to tool. It’s still in beta, so while it won’t break your OS, you might want to back up your default boot screen just in case crosboot doesn’t save it properly. Safety first!
Before You Start
To get crosboot working, you’ll need to make some adjustments on your Chromebook:
- Enable Developer Mode – You’ll need this on to make any changes to the boot screen.
- Disable Root Filesystem Verification – After doing this, remount the root filesystem as read/write to let crosboot access those boot files.
Prepping Your Boot Images
- GIF to PNG: Make sure your boot animation GIF is converted into PNG files. Every frame of the GIF should be saved as a separate PNG.
- Save Locally: Move your PNGs to ChromeOS File Explorer (local storage, not Google Drive) since crosboot will pull the files directly from your device.
- Shortcut for Converting GIF to PNG: If you’re on iOS, you can create your animation in CapCut or similar and use this iOS shortcut to convert the video into PNGs named in ChromeOS’s boot splash format. This keeps everything clean and ready to go!
How to Install and Use crosboot
To get started, open the VT-2 terminal (`CNTRL` + `ALT` + `→`) on ChromeOS and run the following command:
cd; curl -LO sayborduu.github.io/crosboot/crosboot.sh && sudo bash crosboot.sh
Important: You must set the FPS to match your GIF’s FPS.
Making Custom Boot Themes
With crosboot, you can add multiple boot screen themes. Here’s how to make it more organized and creative:
- Organize Your Boot Screens: Place each custom boot screen in its own folder under the directory crosboot checks. This makes it easy to switch between themes.
- Video Tools: You can use video tools like CapCut or others on mobile to create animations. Afterward, use the iOS shortcut to save them in PNG format, making them ready for ChromeOS bootsplash.