Acer CB3-111 Chromebook

Disabling the hardware write protection

• Unscrew all 12 screws on the back of the chromebook and use your finger or a spudger to remove the back, being careful not to rip the ribbon cable attached to both sides.
• Remove the big flat screw near the wireless NIC. Picture
• Verify that hardware write is disabled by typing the following commands in crosh (Ctrl+Alt+T)

shell
sudo su
flashrom --wp-disable
flashrom --wp-status

• The output should include WP: write protect is disabled

Boot into SeaBIOS

• With the white "OS verification disabled" page on the screen, hit Ctrl+L to boot into SeaBios.

Boot into ChromeOS

Warning: You will only be able to boot into ChromeOS if you have not formatted the internal SSD (for example, installed Arch to a USB drive)

• With the white "OS verification disabled" page on the screen, hit Ctrl+D to continue to boot ChromeOS.

Installation Media

Since the CB3-111 only has a 16GB (non-upgradeable) eMMC drive, it may be a good idea to install Arch Linux on a fast USB 3.0 drive rather than the internal drive. This will allow you to boot into ChromeOS as well as Arch Linux. Make sure to use a fast drive, since not just any drive will provide a comfortable experience.

Post Installation Configuration

For information on general Chromebook post installation configuration (hotkeys, power key handling ...) see the Post installation configuration on the Chromebook page.