Cloudready by neverware is a Chromium live image that can be run in a VM, run from a USB stick, &/or is intended to be installed on what would otherwise be obsolete notebooks, turning them into Chromebook equivalents. If you want to get an idea of what running a Chromebook's like, or if you want a very lightweight OS [just under 2GB] in a basically disposable format, or if you've got an old notebook lying around you don't use, it might be worth a look. neverware.com
It downloads as a .zip file, which expands to a 5.3GB .bin file. To turn that into a < 2GB VBox .vdi file:
If you use Virtualbox, you can actually convert the bin to a bootable vdi with this command:
VBoxManage convertfromraw cloudready-free-43.1.37.bin cloudready-free-43.1.37.vdiThen just make sure that EFI and PAE are enabled and mouse integration is unchecked.
TO put it on a bootable USB stick use *nix ddcopy or using the Chrome Browser install the recovery app here: chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chromebook-recovery-utili/jndclpdbaamdhonoechobihbbiimdgai?hl=en
When you run it you'll be able to choose that .bin file. Neither option will let you actually install it in a VM, though I'm not sure how much that matters... To boot to a USB stick in VBox you create a fake hard drive pointing at the USB stick, so either way you're booting to the virtual hard drive rather than the USB stick the install routine is set up to run from.