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It has been a rough few weeks for Google and Chrome OS users. July started off with an incremental update that inadvertently crushed the CPUs on a wide range of Chromebooks. Google quickly halted the update but that resulted in the unintended breaking of the Linux container. For most users, this unfortunate situation was easily navigated with a few, simple tricks. While the actual bug behind the issue was never officially reported, Google quickly patched the problem and pushed the fixed version out with relatively little fuss.
Unfortunately, last week brought another minor update brought with it a tiny code error that caused catastrophic headaches for countless users. The culprit was a single line of code in the file that allows Chrome OS to decrypt your login information. One tiny “&” left out of a conditional statement brought down the entire OS for users and the only fix was to revert Chrome OS which results in a full power wash and the loss of any local data saved on the device. For some, that’s not an issue as many of us accustomed to living in the Google ecosystem keep things synced to the cloud. That said, this isn’t the case for a lot of users. This presented a serious conundrum. Wait for a fix or power wash and chalk up the loss.
Thankfully, as Android Police reported, Google has already rolled out a fix to the borked code and you can update your device without actually logging into your Google account. Version 91.0.4472.167 began rolling out to all eligible devices today and it contains the corrected line of code to fix the login issue. If you were one of the patient ones that waited for Google to push a fix, you can now take the latest update by entering Guest Mode on your device through the button at the bottom-left of the login screen. From there, click the system tray and the gear icon to access the Chrome OS settings.
In the settings, click “About Chrome OS” and press the “check for updates” button. Once the update has been downloaded, you’ll be prompted to restart your device. At this point, if all goes well, you should be able to log into your Chromebook with your main credentials. As I mentioned, it appears that most eligible Chrome OS devices are getting the update but you can check your particular device by heading over to the update table on cros.tech.
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Source: Reddit, Android Police
