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Chromium Blog ChromeOS devices provide a variety of advanced keyboard and button
Google Chrome
Extensions shortcuts that are useful for debugging. We document those here, as well as
Except as otherwise noted, the
highlight some differences between devices with and without keyboards.
content of this page is licensed
under a Creative Commons
Attribution 2.5 license, and Contents
examples are licensed under Devices With Keyboards
the BSD License. Firmware Keyboard Interface
Privacy Devices Without Keyboards
Shortcuts
Firmware Menu Interface
Edit this page EC Debug Mode
Firmware Log Viewer

Devices With Keyboards

See the official support page for non-debug keyboard shortcuts.

Note that some of the below debug keyboard shortcuts are implemented at a
very low level and are not keyboard-layout aware. When in doubt, assume
debug shortcuts refer to the physical mapping of a US keyboard layout.

Shortcuts with an asterisk (*) also work with tablets/detachables with a

keyboard attached.
Functionality
Shortcut
Clean shutdown
Power button, hold for 3 - 8 seconds
Hard shutdown
Power button, hold for 8 seconds
Screenshot capture
Ctrl + Switch-Window *
File feedback / bug
report
Alt + Shift + I *
Powerwash
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R from login screen *
Full system reset
Power + Refresh + ChromeOS-Back (F1), hold for 10
seconds. Only works on some models starting in 2023.
EC reset Power + Refresh
Recovery mode
See firmware keyboard UI section
Developer mode
See firmware keyboard UI section
Battery cutoff
Power + Refresh, hold down, remove power for 5 seconds
Warm AP reset Alt + Volume-Up + R
Restart Chrome
Alt + Volume-Up + X *
Kernel panic/reboot
Alt + Volume-Up + X + X *
Reboot EC but Alt + Volume-Up + Down-Arrow
don't boot AP

Force EC hibernate Alt + Volume-Up + H

Override USB-C Left-Ctrl + Right-Ctrl + Search + (0 or 1 or
port used for
charging 2) *
Virtual terminal
switching
Ctrl + Alt + F1 (or F2, F3, F4) *

Notes:
AP = Application Processor; EC = Embedded Controller.
EC hibernate is supported only on devices with select Embedded
Controllers.
Alt + Volume-Up is treated as the Magic SysRq key. When in
Developer mode, you can enable SysRq key combinations as documented
in the Linux kernel docs.
Overriding the charging port is only supported on Samus.

Firmware Keyboard Interface

Recovery mode: Hold Esc + Refresh and press Power.
On some Chromebooks the combination to hold is Esc + Full
screen

instead.
From here, follow the instructions at
https://google.com/chromeos/recovery to recover your device using
external media.
Recovery mode: Engage the small Reset pinhole with a paperclip, hit
Power and continue engaging Reset for 2 seconds. Typically (only?) for
chromeboxes with a QWERTY keyboard attached.
From here, follow the instructions at
https://google.com/chromeos/recovery to recover your device using
external media.
Developer mode: To enter Developer Mode, first enter recovery mode,
then press Ctrl + D, followed by Enter to accept.
Note that Developer Mode disables security features and may leave
your device open to attack. Only enable if you understand the risks.
Devices in Developer Mode will show a warning screen on every boot.
The screen will time out after 30 seconds, playing a warning beep.
From the warning screen, the following keyboard shortcuts are
available:
Ctrl + D: Boot the system from the internal disk.
Ctrl + U: Boot the system from an external USB stick or SD
card. The option crossystem dev_boot_usb=1 must be set
from the command line before this option is available.
Ctrl + L: Chain-load an alternative bootloader (e.g. SeaBIOS).
This may allow booting other Operating Systems more easily. Not
all devices are shipped with alternative bootloaders. New
alternative bootloaders can be manually installed on the device
from Developer Mode. The option crossystem
dev_boot_legacy=1 must be set from the command line before
this option is available.
0 through 9: On newer (2019+) platforms, more than one
alternative bootloader can be installed and Ctrl + L will show a
selection menu. On these devices, the number keys can be used
to directly boot the numbered bootloader without going through the
menu.
The option crossystem dev_default_boot=usb can be set to
override the default boot behavior if no key combination is pressed for
30 seconds.

Some devices do not support Esc + Power + Refresh for entering

Recovery Mode:
Chromeboxes have a recovery button. To enter Recovery Mode, hold down
the recovery button and press Power.
To enter Developer Mode on a Chromebox, first enter recovery mode
and press Ctrl + D on the keyboard, then push the physical
recovery button on the Chromebox to accept.
Older devices have a physical Developer Mode switch. You can read up on
your particular device under the device-specific developer information
table.

Note: An additional, deeper reset (with forced memory retraining) can be

triggered on some devices on the way to recovery mode by holding Left-
Shift during the normal recovery sequence (i.e., Left-Shift + Esc +
Refresh + Power).

Devices Without Keyboards

Shortcuts
Starting in 2018, keyboardless ChromeOS devices are being built, in tablet and
detachable form factors. Without a keyboard, some typical keyboard-based
debugging shortcuts can't be supported. Below are the shortcuts for performing
various system and debugging tasks with only the limited physical buttons and
touch screen found on tablets or detachable devices.

Note that some of the following behaviors work on convertible devices when
used in tablet mode.

Note: If the tablet has a detachable keyboard, remember to detach it before

trying these shortcuts.
Functionality Shortcut

Screen off Power button, short press

Clean shutdown Power button, hold for 3 seconds, select option in menu

Hard shutdown Power button, hold for 10 seconds

Screenshot capture Power + Volume-Down, short press

File feedback Power button, hold for 3 seconds, select option in menu

EC reset Power + Volume-Up, hold for 10 seconds

Recovery mode See firmware menu UI section

Developer mode See firmware menu UI section

Battery cutoff Power + Volume-Up, hold down, remove power for 5 seconds

Warm AP reset See EC debug mode section

Restart Chrome See EC debug mode section

Kernel panic/reboot See EC debug mode section

Notes:
Filing feedback from the power button menu is currently (as of 2018-10-19)
only supported on canary (for all users) and dev/beta/stable (for Google
employees) release channels. All users can still file feedback via the
browser options menu (Help > Report an issue...).
Battery cutoff shortcut is supported only on devices with a smart battery
(e.g., not Scarlet, Dru).

Firmware Menu Interface

The boot firmware screen is accessible through keyboard shortcuts on devices
with keyboards; on keyboardless devices, the following methods are supported:
Recovery mode: Power + Volume-Up + Volume-Down, hold for
10 seconds. If the screen turns off or on during that period, ignore it and
make sure you keep all three buttons held down for the whole 10 second
period, then release them.
From here, follow the instructions at
https://google.com/chromeos/recovery to recover your device using
external media.
To change the UI language or display additional debugging
information, you can press either Volume-Up or Volume-Down. This
leads to a menu that can be navigated with the volume buttons, and
menu items can be selected with the power button.
Developer mode: Enter recovery mode and press Volume-Up +
Volume-Down simultaneously, then select "Confirm Enabling Developer
Mode" in the menu.
Note that Developer Mode disables security features and may leave
your device open to attack. Only enable if you understand the risks.
Devices in Developer Mode display a similar menu on every boot that
allows selecting developer boot options. The menu will time out and
boot after no key has been pressed for 30 seconds, playing a warning
beep.
The "USB or SD card" and "Legacy BIOS" boot menu options need to
be enabled on the command line before they work, same as with the
firmware keyboard UI.
In addition to selecting boot options in the menu, the following shortcut
combinations are available in the developer warning menu:
Press Volume-Down for 3+ seconds, then release: Boot the
system from the internal disk.
Press Volume-Up for 3+ seconds, then release: Boot the system
from an external USB stick or SD card.
If a keyboard is connected, all boot shortcuts from the firmware
keyboard UI are also available in the developer warning menu.

Note: An additional, deeper reset (with forced memory retraining) can be

triggered on some devices on the way to recovery mode by holding Power +
Volume-Up + Volume-Down for 30 seconds (until the LED starts flashing).

EC Debug Mode
Not all debugging shortcuts are implemented with a simple combination of
buttons—some are found by utilizing multi-button sequences, initiated after
entering a special EC state called "debug mode". To enter debug mode, press
Volume-Up + Volume-Down for 10 seconds. Release once the charging
LED starts flashing. Once in debug mode, any of the following actions can be
taken, using Volume-Up (U) and Volume-Down (D) buttons.

Supported codes:
Functionality Sequence

Restart Chrome UD

Kernel panic/crash UUD

Warm reset DU

Debug mode is cancelled when a sequence finishes, or after 10

seconds without a volume button press.

Firmware Log Viewer

For boards launched after Oct 2020 (such as puff, zork, volteer), the firmware
menu UI supports viewing debug info/firmware logs (by selecting "Advanced
options" then "Debug info"/"Firmware log"). Navigation is as easy as selecting
"Page up", "Page down" buttons from the menu.

For boards launched after Nov 2023 (such as rex, geralt), the text area in the
log viewer is enlarged, and the screen becomes menu-less (see the screenshot
below).

The following on-device buttons and keyboard shortcuts are supported for
navigation.
Functionality Shortcut for Devices With Keyboards Shortcut for Devices Without Keyboards

Page up Up-Arrow Volume-Up

Page down Down-Arrow Volume-Down

Back Enter Power button, short press

First page Left-Arrow

Last page Right-Arrow

Previous boot stage Ctrl + Z

Next boot stage Ctrl + X