Chromebook: Connect to Your Cloud Desktop on ChromeOS

Applies to: ChromeOS · Chromebooks and Chromeboxes · Infosaic cloud desktops

A Chromebook and a Windows cloud desktop are a better pairing than people expect. The Chromebook stays cheap, light and almost maintenance-free; the Windows applications run somewhere else entirely, on hardware that does not travel in a backpack.

There are two ways in, and which one suits you depends on a single question: does your Chromebook have the Google Play Store?

Does my Chromebook have the Play Store?

Open Settings and look for Apps or Google Play Store. If there is a Play Store entry, turn it on if it is not on already.

Most Chromebooks made in the last several years support Play. Some managed school and business Chromebooks have it switched off by administrator policy — in that case the browser route below is the one to use, and there is nothing you can change yourself.

Route one: Windows App from the Play Store

This is the better experience — a real window, a real cursor, sound, and a session that survives switching between apps.

1. Open the Play Store on the Chromebook and search for Windows App. Check the developer reads Microsoft Corporation.
2. Install it. It appears in the ChromeOS launcher like any other app.
3. Open it, tap + and choose Add PC.
4. In PC name, enter the address of your cloud desktop exactly as it appears in your control panel.
5. Add a user account with your Windows username and password — the desktop credentials, not the control panel ones.
6. Save, then open the tile. Accept the certificate warning the first time and choose to remember it.

Right-click on a Chromebook trackpad is a two-finger tap, and it works inside the session exactly as it does in ChromeOS. Pin the app to your shelf and it becomes a one-click start.

Route two: open it in the Chrome browser

If Play is unavailable, or you simply want to get in without installing anything, use browser access. It works in the Chrome browser that is already on every Chromebook, and it needs no permission from anyone.

Sign in to your control panel, follow the browser access link, and the desktop appears in a tab. Put it in its own window and press full screen and it is hard to tell from a native app.

The trade-off is that browser access does not carry sound, your own printer, your own drives or a second monitor. That comparison is set out in full in what browser access cannot do.

Sharing files between ChromeOS and the cloud desktop

Text copies and pastes between ChromeOS and the session in both directions. Files are the part worth planning:

• In Windows App, check the connection settings for a folder or storage redirection option and point it at your ChromeOS Downloads folder. Files then appear inside Windows under This PC.
• In browser access, use the file transfer panel in the Ctrl+Alt+Shift menu — see uploading and downloading files in your browser session.
• Either way, a cloud storage folder that is signed in on both sides is the simplest arrangement of all.

If it does not connect

• School and work Chromebooks are often locked down. If Play is missing and the session will not open, the device policy is the likely cause. Browser access usually still works because it uses ordinary web traffic.
• Check the address character by character. A typo looks identical to a desktop that is switched off.
• Try a phone hotspot. If it connects there, the network you were on was blocking the RDP port.
• Check the username. The Windows account and the control panel account are separate.

Questions and answers

Can a Chromebook run Windows programs?

Not directly, but it can display a Windows cloud desktop that runs them. The programs run on the cloud desktop; the Chromebook is the screen and keyboard.

Which app do I install on a Chromebook?

Windows App by Microsoft Corporation, from the Google Play Store. It is the same Android app that runs on phones and tablets, and on ChromeOS it opens in its own window.

What if my Chromebook has no Play Store?

Use browser access in Chrome instead. It needs nothing installed and reaches the same desktop, though without sound, local printing, local drives or a second monitor.

Is there a Chrome extension for this?

The old Chrome remote desktop extensions are no longer the recommended route. Use the Play Store app if you have Play, and browser access if you do not.

How do I right-click on a Chromebook?

Two-finger tap on the trackpad, or Alt and click. It works inside the session the same way it works in ChromeOS.

Can I get my Chromebook files into the cloud desktop?

Yes. Use folder redirection in Windows App, the file transfer panel in browser access, or a cloud storage folder signed in on both sides.

Does sound work on a Chromebook?

Through the Play Store app, yes. Through browser access, no — that is one of the differences between the two routes.

Will my session survive closing the lid?

Yes. Closing the lid disconnects you, but the desktop keeps running with your programs open. Reconnect and everything is where you left it.

Related articles

• Browser access or RDP: which should you use?
• Android: connect to your cloud desktop from a phone or tablet
• What browser access cannot do (and what to use instead)
• RDP will not connect: how to fix it