MOLI: Enterprise managed, can't enable Developer Mode

Support General Device Support
1

System Details

  • Device: Acer Chromebox Enterprise CXI5
  • OS: ChromeOS
  • Firmware Type: [Stock, RW_LEGACY, UEFI Full ROM]
  • Firmware Version: [As reported by the script]
  • Internal storage type: NVMe

Summary of the Issue

I’m trying to install Linux on an Acer Chromebox Enterprise CXI5 (Board: MOLI, Core i5-1235U).

Current status:

  • ChromeOS Recovery completed successfully. - ChromeOS boots normally.
  • I can sign in with my Google account. - Device is enterprise managed.
  • chrome://policy shows: DeviceBlockDevmode = true
  • Trying to enable Developer Mode from recovery appears to succeed, but after reboot crosh still reports: ERROR: unknown command: shell So it seems Developer Mode is never actually enabled.

Is there any supported way to unlock this device and install the MrChromebox UEFI firmware?
Or is external flashing / CCD required?

Thanks!

Steps to Reproduce

Expected Behavior

[What should have happened?]

5

if Developer Mode is disabled on a managed device, your only option is directly flashing the chip using an external programmer, essentially treating the device as bricked. See the unbricking instructions on my site for more info. You’ll have to use a USB programmer, since the CR50 debug interface is locked out on managed devices.

6

Thanks for your help.
I successfully flashed the Full ROM on my Enterprise Acer Chromebox CXI5 (MOLI) using a CH341B and a WSON-8 probe.
Zorin OS 18 is now running perfectly.
Your documentation and reply saved me a lot of time. Thank you for all your work!

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