Pixelbook Power Button as U2F Key (Updated)
Updated 6/8/2018 to reflect the correct command u2f_flags u2f , to include the usage info and the fact that this feature is now available in the stable channel.
With the new Google Pixelbook and the newest release of the Chrome dev channel, you can use the power button as a built-in UTF key for 2fa/2sv. This is useful, because the device only has two USB-C ports so you don’t want to permanently fill one up with a YubiKey 4c or 4c Nano.
To enable this feature, first make sure you have the newest version of Chrome from the stable channel, which you can download here:
https://www.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel
Then, open the Chrome OS developer shell and enter the following:
u2f_flags u2f
Full docs available via help_advanced :
u2f_flags <u2f | g2f>[,verbose] Set flags to override the second-factor authentication daemon configuration.
u2f: Always enable the standard U2F mode even if not set in device policy.
g2f: Always enable the U2F mode plus some additional extensions.
verbose: Increase the daemon logging verbosity in /var/log/messages.
Now, you can go to your Google Account settings to add an additional security key as your second authentication factor.
While you’re at it, you may want to add your Pixelbook UTF key to your Dropbox account, GitHub account and others as well.
Enjoy!
