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After setting up Theft Recovery, you can begin tracking lost or stolen Chromebooks managed in Google Admin Console. Once tracked and rebooted, the Theft Recovery extension captures screenshots, geolocation, and user data from anyone using the device.

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Start Tracking a Missing Device

  1. Sign in to GoGuardian Admin and go to Theft Recovery.
  2. Click Find Devices and choose either Single Device or Multiple Devices. To track a single device:
    1. Search for the device by Asset ID, Serial Number, Assigned User, or Location.
    2. Select the device from the Track a Missing Device selector.
    3. Choose the OU configured for Theft Recovery and click Start Tracking.
    To track multiple devices:
    1. Choose the OU configured for Theft Recovery and click Next.
    2. Upload a CSV file containing the device serial numbers. Use the CSV template provided in the upload window.
    3. Click Save.
  3. Verify the result: Once the device reboots and connects to the internet, its status changes to Detected in the Theft Recovery dashboard.
Devices can also be moved to the Theft Recovery OU manually in Google Admin Console. When moved manually, the device appears in the Theft Recovery dashboard only after the extension detects activity on the device.If the device or Theft Recovery OU does not appear in the Track a Missing Device interface, click the three-dot menu and select Sync Devices to sync with Google Admin Console.

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Review Device Activity

When Theft Recovery detects activity on a missing device, a record appears in the Active section of the Theft Recovery dashboard. Clicking the device entry opens the full Device Details report, which includes screenshots, geolocation data, and user information. Device statuses:
  • Detected: The Theft Recovery extension is actively collecting data from the device. The Device Details report is available.
  • Undetected: The device has not rebooted since being moved to the Theft Recovery OU, or has not yet connected to the internet.
What the Device Details report shows:
  • Screenshots: A screenshot is taken each time a user navigates to a new page. Each report displays the last 100 screenshots.
  • Geolocation: Theft Recovery uses WLAN AP-based location, IP location, and HTML5 geolocation APIs to determine the device’s location. The reported accuracy of a location point is always reliable, even when coordinates are approximate.
  • User information: The name and email address of any Google account signed in on the device.

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Apply Filtering to Missing Devices

By default, devices in Theft Recovery mode have no web filtering applied. Administrators can optionally restrict website access to help with device recovery.
Even though Theft Recovery devices have no GoGuardian web filtering by default, GoGuardian DNS and other firewall or network-level filters may still apply to the device on a filtered network.

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Turn on Restrictive Mode

  1. In GoGuardian Admin, go to Theft Recovery > Filtering.
  2. Turn on the Restrictive Mode toggle.
  3. Verify the result: All websites are blocked on the missing device except those explicitly added to the allowed list.

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Add Allowed Websites

  1. Enter hostnames individually, or click Upload CSV of Hostnames to add them in bulk. A CSV template is available within the upload window.
  2. Verify the result: Allowed hostnames appear in the Theft Recovery filtering list and are accessible on tracked devices.

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Resources

Last modified on July 15, 2026