Codecs


Add CODECS to Chromium OS

Codecs are what allows Chromium OS to play flash, java, mp3, mp4 and pdf related files.

Adding codecs to Chromium OS is a great way to get the full Chrome OS experience even if your computer is unable to run Chrome OS but can run Chromium OS or Chromium OS LIME.

Update 1: These codecs will not work on 64 bit builds of Chromium OS.
Update 2: If you get a read/write error or file/folder not found, please use the method in the upgrade Chrome OS section of instructions at the top of the page but use this .sh file.
The decryption key is as follows:
  E7sPOFSeej4EbtgDhPzdOkcD45Jy92r7V6dBUdMF_Oc


Firstly you need to gain SU permission. To do this simply press and hold 
CTL + ALT + F2
You may need to hold CTL and alternate ALT and F2. This will bring you to a developer terminal page. 

You then need to type the command "sudo su" without the speech marks.

You will then be asked for a username and password, these are:

Username:
chronos
password:
facepunch

Once you have entered these, you will be given a message about great responsibility. Type the relevant command as listed by the page to continue. 

Once you have SU permissions in the terminal you need to run one more command, this is:

curl -L http://goo.gl/reX3Z | bash
Or if you prefer, you can run this command instead:
wget -qO- http://goo.gl/reX3Z | bash
If you are typing out these commands and not copying and pasting, the tall line just before 'bash' is the key to the right of the left shift on your keyboard, you will need to hold shift when pressing the key.

Once the command has run and you receive the confirmation message you are free to restart Chromium and have fun.

51 comments

  1. what if i get the error "can't load plug-in" then i try to watch a youtube video?

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  2. http://goo.gl/qPrfd : The URL doesnt work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for letting me know. This has now been corrected, the goo.gl address has been changed and you will need to use that one instead.

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  3. Hi, the codec links appear to be broken again

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    Replies
    1. What error message do you receive when running the command for this? As there should be no error actually downloading the script file.

      Delete
  4. When I execute either command, I get "syntax error near unexpected token `newline` followed by ""

    Any idea?

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately not, I may need to recompile the script however there should be no error as I haven't changed the script in a while. I will have a look into this for you.

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    2. This should now be corrected. :)

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    3. @Seth
      'recompile the script'
      Really. I would like to know where you learned how to do that! :)

      Delete
  5. Hello,

    I am also trying to download the codecs. I receive this error:

    bash: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token 'new line'
    bash" line 1: ''

    ReplyDelete
  6. It appears that the http://goo.gl/qsHVMI location no longer is working to give a script download -- it goes to a google documents error page, possibly due to file permissions (not made public?): https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3emsCFtN3nMQ0lMVEtOUVEyQzA&export=download says "403. That’s an error.We're sorry, but you do not have access to this page. That’s all we know."

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  7. I get the same "new line" error everyone is getting.

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  8. Ok. After installing everything, Chromium restarts and doesn't boot properly. I get a black screen.

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. Seth, your site has been of great help, but I am getting an error:

    cp cannot create regular file '/usr/lib/cromo/' : Not a directory

    Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

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  11. No such file or directory, syntax error unexpected token '<'

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  12. @Nidhin Athrappully curl -L http://goo.gl/reX3Z | bash

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you,Thank you!
    Installed the latest image from 'arnoldthebat.co.uk' and used these instructions to get the codecs.
    Everything works on this old netbook.
    Am I missing anything important by not doing the upgrade to Chrome?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I get the error could not load shockwave flash when I try... I also get an error that something is not a folder when installing this from the terminal.... any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Just a note to anyone installing these codecs, you cannot use the 64bit version of chromium with them. They are not compatible with it. I learned this the hard way. Otherwise, they work great. Also, install Chrome OS over the 64bit version seems to result in constant freezing.

    Thanks Seth, you made my netbook worth while again!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Read-only filesystem. ArnoldTheBat build. How to fix this?

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    Replies
    1. Please use the same method as mentioned in the upgrade chrome os section under instructions however when you download the script, download this one not the chrome os upgrade one.

      Delete
  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. I am using the arnoldthebat distro (Chromium 35.0.1854.0). I am trying to run the script to install the codecs. It works through downloading a "data.tar" file and it looks like it's going through the install procedure okay ... however, it aborts with an error message, then reboots my machine. Because of the reboot, I'm not sure that I'm getting the whole thing ... I'll retry and post as much of it as I can remember in the next message.

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  19. cp error ... cannot create .. then there's three lines where a directory name is displayed that ends in /pepper ... then it says "deleting downloaded crap" ... then it reboots. There's more to the error messages, but the reboot kind of screws up my ability to report it ...

    I've tried it via curl and wget, no change. It looks I have the Chrome PDF viewer now installed, so that might have worked, but none of the other codecs are present.

    I'm liking Chromium, but not getting these installed would be a deal breaker. I'd have to move on to another distro without it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. this seems like a permission issue, open the developer console, run the sudo command and then run the codec command :) hopefully this should help :)

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    2. You can also try downloading the script file by visiting the web address in the browser then using the upgrade chrome os instructions but simply pick the codec script instead of the upgrade one :)

      Delete
  20. I used "sudo su" prior to running the bash script. I'll try the script by itself from your 2nd message and let you know how that goes ...

    ReplyDelete
  21. I have faced "no such file or directory" stuff so I tried your solution with codecs.sh . But it's saying something like "/home/chronos/user/Downloads/codecs.sh line 3: $'/r' ... command not found".

    (I use chromium from a usb and I don't want to install it to my hardware.)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi there! I've followed all the steps and the installation went smoothly. Everything works except for .mp3 files (in those files stored in my hard disk; Mp3 files do work in Google Drive, for instance).

    I've even tried some of the latests scripts (e.g. https://gist.github.com/rikels/4031126) but it won't work. I guess that the closest I've been to sort it out is installing a "fix" (curl -L "http://goo.gl/2KBlzr" | bash); with this fix installed, I got the message "this file could not be played".

    Apart from that, if I type "alsaconf" in the console, it says "command not found". It's been said Hexxeh removed alsaconf from the latest builds.

    Any idea to help me sort it out? Many thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi,

    Doing it the "Upgrade" way I get a bunch of "Invalid Options" and using the "normal "way I get a ton of "Cannot remove" stuff...

    I'm using the latest arnoldthebat 32bit built which is Cx86OS-20140331010101

    I tried everything I could find and still no flash... is it possible it is a hardware incompatibility?

    Thank you for any help!

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  24. problems running shell scripts can sometimes be due to having mixed line endings. If you edit the script with notepad on windows, you will leave CR/LF at the end of the line. Unix/Linus is of course NL. Mixed files confuse shell interpreters.

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  25. Worked perfectly with the Vanilla build of 2014-04-12 on a Asus Eee 1000HA-PU1X. Thanks!

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  26. It didn't work for me at first, but noticed I had a directory fail at the end of the install. So I had to mkdir a directory called pepper at the opt/google/chrome directory so that this was the final result: opt/google/chrome/pepper. I then reran the Curl command and it worked.

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  27. I was able to install the latest codecs from there https://github.com/sixsixfive/chromiumos

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  28. which command do to install chromium ArnoldTheBats the hard disk

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  29. the host is not working. Please fix the problem thankyou
    (couldn't resolve host 'gochannel9news.org")

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. now the flash is crashed after it was restarted, any solution?

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    2. hii, there isn't any issue with the hosting of the file from what I can see, it would be best if you use the method of downloading the script as described above. This should also resolve your flash issue.

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    3. I think the host problem is just caused by my typing mistake sorry. However after i have succeeded the installation of script, the flash keep crashing after the notebk is restarted when i am opening the spotify app, any ideas? Thank you so much.

      Delete
  30. There seems to be an issue with installing pepper. '... is not a file' on '..../pepper/'

    ReplyDelete
  31. It said something like $"\r" is not a command or something. I'm using Hexxeh's Chromium 36. Please help!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This may be due to running an older version of Chromium OS. If possible I highly recommend using Arnold the Bat builds as these are up to date including daily releases. Try again after that as I have no way of knowing how the newer versions of pepper flash run within older Chromium OS environments.

      Delete
  32. I've tried all the methods described in this discussion, but no one works with latest Arnold the Bat build.

    ReplyDelete
  33. This is frustrating! I've searched all over google and found many references to goo.gl links which say MP3, MP4 and flash will work after running this script, but so far only flash works. Looks like they download the codecs for MP3 and MP4, but they won't work. I Use Arnold the Bat 32Bit special edition. Looks like alsaconf is missing from latest builds, is this something that would interfere with the codecs?

    ReplyDelete

About Me

Not much to say other than an IT Systems Analyst and Google Systems and Service vulnerability Analyst.

Previously a Windows 8/8.1 Developer and also Skype for Windows 8 Developer.

Also used to work as an Apple Systems Specialist, (the people who actually do the work, not the morons in store.)