

Perhaps it is the Core i CPU that is the key. I have seen reports that users have successfully installed Windows on devices ranging from a Core i5 Pixel Slate to the aging Dell Chromebook 13 that has a Broadwell CPU. After some input from some colleagues, it appears that the ability to run qemu/kvm in a nested environment is more widely available than I presumed. My first theory was that this was being tested exclusively on ‘Hatch’ devices that are equipped with the Comet Lake family of processors.

All of this was made possible thanks to an update to the Linux kernel that is available to some users inside the Chrome OS Linux container. While I have absolutely no use for such a monstrosity, the path that brought me there was fun and I believe a lot of users were excited about the premise of running Windows alongside Chrome OS. My most recent endeavor involved installing a full-blown version of Windows 10 inside the Linux container on Chrome OS. In my path to Chrome OS enlightenment, I’ve explored many method with which users can run non-native applications and even alternative operating systems.
