Running ChromeOS in a virtual machine was the only way to run it on a Mac, until now. After a bunch of Googling and trial-and-error with a bunch of different things, I figured it out, and it’s extremely simple.

So what we’re going to be doing is using an external bootloader to boot off of the USB key. Macs, even when holding ALT when you turn on your computer, will not display USB drives. rEFIt detects these drives, but you can’t actually boot from one. We’re going to be using the Plop Boot Manager to boot from the USB drive so that you can run ChromeOS natively.

Complete details after the jump!

There are two different methods:

1. Download/burn the ISO image to a CD, and boot from that to boot the USB drive.
2. Use Ubuntu & GRUB2 to boot the .BIN of the boot loader to use without a CD, but you need Ubuntu installed (natively).

.ISO DOWNLOAD

.BIN DOWNLOAD

We aren’t going to explain the second method. If you were able to install Ubuntu onto your Mac (natively), then you should know enough to get the bootloader to work from GRUB2.

The first method is very simple. You basically need to burn the ISO image to a blank CD, and boot from that.

Burning the .ISO to a CD

1. Download the above .ISO download.
2. Unarchive the downloaded .ZIP file.
3. Open Disk Utility.
4. Click on the Burn button (or press CMD+B).
5. Insert a blank CD.
6. Find the .ISO file.
7. Click Burn.

Booting the Burned CD

1. Insert the burned CD.
2. Insert your USB key with ChromeOS on it.
3. Hold ALT/Option while turning your Mac on.
4. Choose the disc.
5. When at the bootloader, select USB.

You should now be booted into ChromeOS (natively!) on your Mac!