Use Chrome upgrades

For administrators who manage ChromeOS devices for a business or school.

For devices to use your purchased upgrades, you must first enroll the device into your organization. Enrollment establishes the link between your device and your organization, and enforces your configured policies.

If you purchased standalone ChromeOS devices, you will need to purchase standalone upgrades. You can only enroll as many standalone devices that you purchased upgrades for. If you try to enroll more devices than you have upgrades for, you’ll see an error message and devices won’t enroll. In that case, you’ll need to unenroll devices or get more upgrades. For details, see Repair, repurpose, or retire ChromeOS devices.

If you purchased ChromeOS devices bundled with Chrome Enterprise Upgrade or Chrome Education Upgrade, you do not need to purchase separate standalone upgrades for them. You can directly enroll bundled devices into in your organization. Each device has an integrated upgrade that covers the life of the device.

See how many upgrades you have

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. From the Admin console Home page, go to  Menu  DevicesChromeDevices.
3. At the top, click Upgrades.
   • Standalone, fixed-term renewable—ChromeOS upgrade services that are not bundled with ChromeOS devices and require device enrollment to activate the services. These upgrades are available for the fixed-term of the subscription (usually 12 months), and require renewal at the end of the term to continue use of services. The fixed-term is charged whether or not the upgrade is enrolled.
   • Standalone, perpetual—ChromeOS upgrade services that are not bundled with ChromeOS devices and require device enrollment to activate the services. Once enrolled to a device, this upgrade is available for the life of the device in this organization.
     1. Unassigned—Standalone upgrades that are currently available to be enrolled using an unmanaged ChromeOS device.
     2. Assigned—Standalone upgrades that are in-use or retired and unavailable for enrollment. These upgrades include those used on provisioned devices, retired devices with perpetual upgrades, and devices disabled after July, 2024.
     3. Retired—Standalone perpetual upgrades that were purchased but are no longer available for enrollment. These are perpetual upgrades that were enrolled to a device that has since been retired, and the upgrade cannot be transferred or re-used on a different device. Retired licenses are a subset of the Assigned total.
     4. Conditionally available—Standalone perpetual upgrades that were previously enrolled and later unenrolled for RMA, warranty, or repair reasons, and are only available to be reused on a same model device (same model is defined in our Auto Update policy). During new device enrollment, these upgrades will be re-used first if same model conditions are met. Conditionally available licenses are a subset of the Assigned total.
     5. Total purchased—Total number of standalone upgrades purchased.
   • ChromeOS devices with bundled upgrades—Devices that are bundled with a ChromeOS upgrade (Education or Enterprise). The ChromeOS upgrade is available for the life of the device.
     Note: Bundled devices only appear after enrollment, not when a device is purchased.
     1. Enterprise—Total number of bundled Chrome Enterprise devices enrolled.
     2. Education—Total number of ChromeOS devices bundled with Chrome Education upgrades enrolled.
     3. Total Enrolled—Total number of bundled upgrades that have been enrolled.

   Use upgrades

   For information about how to enroll a device, see Enroll ChromeOS devices. 

   Before you begin

   • To enroll using Kiosk & Signage Upgrade, ChromeOS devices must be running version 104 or later. 
   • If you have no upgrades available for the selected upgrade type, you will receive an error notifying you that you must purchase additional upgrades.
    

   Enroll devices using the upgrade type that you want

   When you enroll devices, you can choose which upgrade type you want to use—Chrome Enterprise Upgrade or Kiosk & Signage Upgrade. When you enroll devices, the corresponding available upgrade count goes down and the device is registered with the selected upgrade type.

   Change the upgrade on an enrolled device

   Changes to an upgrade type can take up to 24 hours to be reflected on the device. It does not factory reset and wipe device data. To do this, see Wipe ChromeOS device data.

   If you enrolled a device using an incorrect upgrade type or you want to change your upgrade, use one of the following options:

   • Change the upgrade of a single device.
     1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

        Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

     2. From the Admin console Home page, go to  Menu  DevicesChromeDevices.
     3. Select the device by clicking it in the list.
     4. On the left, click Change Upgrade.
     5. In the Change upgrade for device box, select Change upgrade.
     6. Click Done.
   • Change the upgrade for multiple devices.
     1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

        Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

     2. From the Admin console Home page, go to  Menu  DevicesChromeDevices.
     3. Check the boxes next to the devices you want to upgrade.
     4. On the menu above the devices list, click MoreChange Upgrade.
     5. Confirm details of the upgrade change, current upgrade to new upgrade.
     6. Click Change upgrade.
     7. (Optional) To retain records of devices with changed upgrades, click Download log.
     8. Click Done.

   • Deprovision the device and enroll it again using the correct upgrade type.

   Device behavior when changing from Chrome Enterprise Upgrade to Kiosk & Signage Upgrade

   User sessions and managed guest sessions are not available when devices are enrolled in the Kiosk & Signage Upgrade. Before you change the upgrade to Kiosk & Signage, make sure your device is configured for kiosk sessions.

   If you change the upgrade type while a user is logged in or managed guest sessions are active, those sessions continue until the next device reboot. After rebooting, session options are no longer available. User session data is still stored but is not accessible. To access user session data, you must change the upgrade type back to Chrome Enterprise Upgrade and sign into the device. 

   Device behavior changing from Kiosk & Signage Upgrade to Chrome Enterprise Upgrade

   Devices remain configured for kiosk session when changing from the Kiosk & Signage Upgrade to the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade. Devices enrolled in the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade will have the additional functionalities of signed-in users or managed guest sessions. To use the device as a signed-in user or managed guest session, you must reboot and locally sign into the device. 

   Unenroll devices

   If you have annual upgrades for Chrome Enterprise Upgrade or Kiosk & Signage Upgrade, you can unenroll devices at any time. You can unenroll a device and transfer the upgrade to another standalone device (of any model) in the same domain. However, you can't transfer an upgrade to another domain.

   If you have perpetual upgrades for standalone devices, you can transfer the upgrade to another device of the same model (or equivalent manufacturer-provided replacement) only if you encounter a hardware issue and need to replace the device.

   Note: To unenroll a device in your organization, you need to deprovision it. Then, you can wipe the device and use it as an unmanaged device or enroll it in another domain. For details, see Repair, repurpose, or retire Chrome devices.

   Related topics

   • Order options for Chrome Enterprise
   • Purchase upgrades for ChromeOS devices
   • Enroll ChromeOS devices