Schroot allows users to execute commands or interactive shells in different chroots. Any number of named chroots may be created, and access permissions given to each, including root access for normal users, on a per-user or per-group basis. Additionally, schroot can switch to a different user in the chroot, using PAM for authentication and authorisation. All operations are logged for security.

Several different types of chroot are supported, including normal directories in the filesystem, and also block devices. Sessions, persistent chroots created on the fly from files (tar with optional compression) and Btrfs, ZFS, and LVM snapshots are also supported.

schroot supports kernel personalities, allowing the programs run inside the chroot to have a different personality. For example, running 32-bit chroots on 64-bit systems, or even running binaries from alternative operating systems such as SVR4 or Xenix.

schroot also integrates with sbuild, to allow building packages with all supported chroot types, including session-managed chroot types such as Btrfs, ZFS, and LVM snapshots.

schroot shares most of its options with dchroot, but offers vastly more functionality.