RcloneView on ChromeOS Linux — Cloud Storage Sync and Backup

April 14, 2026 · 4 min read

Senior Engineer

ChromeOS's built-in Linux environment (Crostini) runs RcloneView natively, giving Chromebook users a full-featured GUI for syncing and backing up files across 90+ cloud providers.

ChromeOS's Linux environment (powered by Crostini, a Debian-based LXC container with a Wayland display server) provides a genuine Linux desktop experience inside ChromeOS. Applications installed in the Linux environment run in their own window alongside Chrome, and they have access to the Linux Files directory shared with ChromeOS. RcloneView's Linux .deb package installs cleanly into Crostini, giving you a complete multi-cloud file management tool on your Chromebook.

Manage & Sync All Clouds in One Place

RcloneView is a cross-platform GUI for rclone. Compare folders, transfer or sync files, and automate multi-cloud workflows with a clean, visual interface.

One-click jobs: Copy · Sync · Compare
Schedulers & history for reliable automation
Works with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, S3, WebDAV, SFTP and more

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Free core features. Plus automations available.

Enabling Linux on ChromeOS

Before installing RcloneView, enable the Linux environment on your Chromebook. Go to ChromeOS Settings → Advanced → Developers → Linux development environment and click Turn on. ChromeOS downloads and configures a Debian-based Linux container — this takes 2–5 minutes depending on your internet connection.

Once enabled, a Terminal app appears in your app drawer and a Linux Files folder appears in the ChromeOS Files app. Files saved in the Linux environment are accessible from this folder, and the reverse is also true — you can drag files from ChromeOS into Linux Files for processing.

Installing RcloneView on ChromeOS Linux

Download the RcloneView .deb package from rcloneview.com. Choose the x86_64 package for standard Intel/AMD Chromebooks. Open the ChromeOS Files app, locate the downloaded .deb file, right-click it, and select Install with Linux.

Alternatively, open the Linux Terminal and install from the command line:

sudo dpkg -i rclone_view-*.deb
sudo apt-get install -f

After installation, RcloneView appears in your ChromeOS app launcher under the Linux apps section. Launch it and the familiar multi-panel interface opens in its own ChromeOS window.

RcloneView running on ChromeOS Linux with cloud remote configuration

Accessing ChromeOS Files from RcloneView

RcloneView's local file browser accesses the Linux filesystem. To work with files stored in ChromeOS's main storage (Downloads, Google Drive offline cache, external SD cards), enable Linux sharing for those folders in ChromeOS Settings. Right-click a ChromeOS folder in Files → Share with Linux — it then appears under /mnt/chromeos/ inside the Linux environment and in RcloneView's local file browser.

This lets you set up a Sync job from /mnt/chromeos/MyFiles/Downloads/ to your Backblaze B2 or Amazon S3 bucket, creating automated backups of everything you download on your Chromebook.

Syncing ChromeOS Downloads folder to cloud storage with RcloneView

Multi-Cloud Sync from Your Chromebook

With RcloneView running on ChromeOS, you can connect to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Backblaze B2, Amazon S3, and 90+ other providers. Add remotes through the standard New Remote wizard — OAuth providers use the Chromium browser for authentication, which launches automatically.

The Mount feature works in Crostini via FUSE (install fuse3 with sudo apt install fuse3), letting you mount cloud storage as a directory in the Linux file system.

Mounting cloud storage as a local directory on ChromeOS Linux via RcloneView

Getting Started

Enable Linux in ChromeOS Settings → Developers → Linux development environment.
Download the RcloneView .deb package from rcloneview.com.
Install via Files app right-click or dpkg -i in the Linux Terminal.
Share your ChromeOS folders with Linux, then create Sync jobs to your preferred cloud providers.

RcloneView transforms a Chromebook into a capable cloud storage management workstation — ideal for students, writers, and remote workers who rely on cloud storage for everything.

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