Chrome Flags
Both Chrome and ChromeOS both expose numerous settings in their respective settings menus; however, there are several hidden settings that can be manipulated via the use of a less publicized settings screen known as Chrome Flags. Although this guide covers ChromeOS, these instructions apply to all operating systems that support the Chrome Browser, the only difference is that Chrome will only show the values that are supported on the specific operating system in use. These settings are hidden as they could introduce security or stability problems if the values are changed; however, they could prove valuable to developers who wish to understand how their code will work when legacy web standards are deprecated.
Additionally, there are several experimental changes that are controlled via a Chrome Flag that will allow users to test draft features - please keep in mind that experimental features are subject to change and developers should not release code based on features that are hidden behind flags. There are also several cases of draft features not being promoted to production and removed before release.
Unless you have a in-depth understanding of what the flags in this section do, it is strongly advised not to make any changes. Introducing changes to the Chrome or ChromeOS flags does require a restart of your device. Unlike other settings, Chrome Flags do not sync across devices and would be cleared if you were to do a Power wash/Factory Reset on your device.
The purpose of this section is to document all Chrome/ChromeOS Flags, several of these flags may not be available depending on your device or ChromeOS version. Additionally, if you are using a managed device, it is possible for your system administrator to restrict access to these flags.
Crostini without LXD containers
Experimental support for Crostini without LXD containers (aka Baguette)
Crostini without LXD containers URI
The Crostini without LXD containers can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#crostini-containerless
Crostini without LXD containers Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Enabled,Disabled | |
Allow multiple Crostini containers
Experimental UI for creating and managing multiple Crostini containers
Allow multiple Crostini containers URI
The Allow multiple Crostini containers can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#crostini-multi-container
Allow multiple Crostini containers Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Disabled,Enabled | |
Accelerated 2D canvas
Enables the use of the GPU to perform 2d canvas rendering instead of using software rendering.
Accelerated 2D canvas URI
The Accelerated 2D canvas can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#disable-accelerated-2d-canvas
Accelerated 2D canvas Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Enabled | Options: Enabled,Disabled | |
Enable benchmarking
Sets all features to a fixed state; that is, disables randomization for feature states. If '(Default Feature States)' is selected, sets all features to their default state. If '(Match Field Trial Testing Config)' is selected, sets all features to the state configured in the field trial testing config. This is used by developers and testers to diagnose whether an observed problem is caused by a non-default base::Feature configuration. This flag is automatically reset after 3 restarts and will be off from the 4th restart. On the 3rd restart, the flag will appear to be off but the effect is still active
Enable benchmarking URI
The Enable benchmarking can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#enable-benchmarking
Enable benchmarking Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Disabled,Default Feature States,Match Field Trial Testing Config | |
Override software rendering list
Overrides the built-in software rendering list and enables GPU-acceleration on unsupported system configurations.
Override software rendering list URI
The Override software rendering list can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#ignore-gpu-blocklist
Override software rendering list Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Disabled,Enabled | |
Override software rendering list
Overrides the built-in software rendering list and enables GPU-acceleration on unsupported system configurations
Override software rendering list URI
The Override software rendering list can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#ignore-gpu-blocklist
Override software rendering list Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Disabled,Enabled | |
Select HW overlay strategies
Select strategies used to promote quads to HW overlays. Note that strategies other than Default may break playback of protected content.
Select HW overlay strategies URI
The Select HW overlay strategies can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#overlay-strategies
Select HW overlay strategies Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: None | Options: None,Unoccluded fullscreen buffers (single-fullscreen),Unoccluded buffers (single-fullscreen single-on-top),Occluded and unoccluded buffers (single-fullscreen single-on-top underlay) | |
Prompt API for Gemini Nano
Enables the exploratory Prompt API, allowing you to send natural language instructions to a built-in large language model (Gemini Nano in Chrome). Exploratory APIs are designed for local prototyping to help discover potential use cases, and may never launch.
These explorations will inform the built-in AI roadmap. This API is primarily intended for natural language processing tasks such as summarizing, classifying, or rephrasing text. It is NOT suitable for use cases that require factual accuracy (e.g. answering knowledge questions). You must comply with our Prohibited Use Policy which provides additional details about appropriate use of Generative AI.
Prompt API for Gemini Nano URI
The Prompt API for Gemini Nano can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#prompt-api-for-gemini-nano
Prompt API for Gemini Nano Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Enabled,Disabled | |
Scheduler Configuration
Instructs the OS to use a specific scheduler configuration setting.
Hyper-Threading on ChromeOS was disabled by default starting with ChromeOS 74 due to security concerns related to speculative execution vulnerabilities like MDS (Microarchitectural Data Sampling), which could allow attackers to exploit CPU side-channel leaks. Disabling it helps mitigate these risks, though it may impact performance in some workloads.
Scheduler Configuration URI
The Scheduler Configuration can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#scheduler-configuration
Scheduler Configuration Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disables Hyper-Threading on relevant CPUs. | Options: Disables Hyper-Threading on relevant CPUs.,Enables Hyper-Threading on relevant CPUs. | |
| First Added: M74 | ||
Temporarily unexpire M130 flags
Temporarily unexpire flags that expired as of M130. These flags will be removed soon
Temporarily unexpire M130 flags URI
The Temporarily unexpire M130 flags can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#temporary-unexpire-flags-m130
Temporarily unexpire M130 flags Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Enabled,Disabled | |
| First Added: M130 | ||
Temporarily unexpire M131 flags
Temporarily unexpire flags that expired as of M131. These flags will be removed soon.
Temporarily unexpire M131 flags URI
The Temporarily unexpire M131 flags can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#temporary-unexpire-flags-m131
Temporarily unexpire M131 flags Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Disabled,Enabled | |
Temporarily unexpire M132 flags
Temporarily unexpire flags that expired as of M132. These flags will be removed soon
Temporarily unexpire M132 flags URI
The Temporarily unexpire M132 flags can be accessed directly by entering the following URI into the Chrome Address Bar. You will need to restart your ChromeOS device for the change to take effect.
chrome://flags/#temporary-unexpire-flags-m132
Temporarily unexpire M132 flags Details
Platforms:
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| Default Value: Disabled | Options: Disabled,Enabled | |