If you are going to use EasyBCD then you do need the Grub files on the partition so that it can basically chainload Linux. Don't think it needs a primary and if it doesn't boot from a logical partition, that would be a problem with EasyBCD

I'm not sure what the limit is, if any for logical partitions. Definitely more than 4. See the link below for an extreme example.

http://forums.justlinux.com/showthre...ystems-in-a-PC

The simplest/easiest way would be as suggested above, two hard drives with one for windows and one for Linux.

That is a BIOS boot partition which is only needed if you are using GPT and NOT using UEFI. I don't think you will be able to boot EFI installs of windows this way. Best to use EFI for all or Legacy for all.

Correct, if you are using a Linux (Grub) bootloader. Not sure if a primary is needed if you are using EasyBCD. Would not think so as EasyBCD uses a modified version of Grub4Dos which is itself a modified version of Grub/Grub2.

If you installed windows 7 after 10 and they both booted, it may not matter. Generally microsoft recommends installing the most recent version of windows last. When I installed windows 10 on a Legacy machine with an existing windows 7, I used an existing ntfs partition and marked it as active/bootable rather than leaving the active/boot partition as the windows 7 boot partition. This will put windows 10 boot files on its partition and will not interfere with the windows 7 boot files. Used the windows 10 Custom install option which should be available after the EULA page. This wrote over the MBR with windows code so I needed to re-install Grub. You won't need to do that as if you install Linux in Legacy mode, it will install Grub as the default option and should create windows entries. If you install your Linux on the same drive then install Grub to the MBR of that drive. In this case, the MBR is /dev/sda NOT /dev/sda1 and that is the default option.

Before installing Ubuntu, make sure you turn off fastboot and anything related to hibernation in windows 10. Ubuntu (or any Linux) will not mount a hibernated partition and therefore will not be able to detect and add it to the Grub menu.

Also, if you are going to use Ubuntu, I would definitely recommend the manual installation method which Ubuntu calls "Something Else". Check the link below which has a basic tutorial or do an online search. Good luck.

As I recall it needed to be primary in order to boot using the Windows bootloader with Grub installed on the Linux partition (sda5). I wanted the MS boot loader on the MBR because primarily what I use is Windows 7, hence didn't want to chain load from Grub when 4 times out of 5 I'd just be booting directly to Windows. It was a personal preference thing that turned out to be more difficult than you would think it should be. With Grub on the MBR, yes it doesn't matter whether the partition is logical or primary, but the M$ boot loaders seem to be picky about that from what I read elsewhere.
Using Grub on the MBR is the easy way to do this because Grub in general is more flexible. But the Microsoft (like all things M$) kinda sucks in that regard. Again I'm working from memory and I could have been doing something else wrong but I tried lots of things and installed EasyBCD multiple times from within both Windows 10 and Windows 7 and I think I tried other boot managers as well but could not get the boot manager to chain load Grub when it was installed on a logical partition at the beginning of the Linux partition (sda5). EasyBCD will find it when you're installing but Linux just won't show up in the boot menu when you restart. Was quite frustrating. I think it's a Microsoft problem though not an EasyBCD problem.

Yes that's what I meant.

Link missing, but yes I agree. When you don't have any primary partitions left, the "automatic" option doesn't even show up in the installer. The ONLY option is the manual installation. And yes, the automatic option might overwrite other partitions and you could risk losing data. Wish the "automatic" option would show you what it's going to do before it just went ahead and did it, haha.

That is very simple to set in Grub. In Ubuntu, open the file /etc/default/grub using sudo (EX: sudo gedit /etc/default/grub) and find the line shown below in that file (right at the top) and change the zero to the correct number. Ubuntu will be the first entry, so simply count down the menuentry lines to the windows entry and replace the zero with that number. The count in this instance is from zero, so if your windows entry is the third you would put a 2 there then run sudo update-grub. This same entry is in the grub.cfg file which works until you update-grub again when it will revert so using the /etc/default/grub file is the better option.

I can't seem to find the link I wanted to post earlier but the link below to the Dell site is pretty good although it uses the 'Alongside' method.
In any case, you will need unallocated space or you will need a primary partition used as an extended on which to create a logical partition on which to put Ubuntu.

https://www.dell.com/support/article...ell-pc?lang=en

you can or should be able to side track it, if you got a SD Card slot, install grub onto a sd card, if if you got a spare usb Stick, install grub onto that, if you do not have a different hdd attached to your system, give that a try, this way windows is still in command of your mbr.

Yes, I know, but that will still chain load to the Windows boot loader. I was trying to skip the whole Grub step on startup. If I was to chain load anything, I would have preferred it to be from the MS bootloader - Grub, not the other way around.
Again it was a small thing that ended up being more hassle than it was worth.

Good idea. So then you just stick the USB or SD card in when you want to boot Linux?

If you want to use bcd from windows and you are using a Legacy/MBR install, the link below explains the process of booting a Linux system from windows.

https://www.iceflatline.com/2009/09/...using-bcdedit/

Great thanks for helpful the link.

Also according to that page:
And
And that's pretty much just what I did (in my case it was /dev/sda5 I believe).

The point is that Linux root needs to be on a primary partition in order for the Windows boot loader to recognize it. Hence my reason for changing the partitions around.

But that page explains pretty well how to do this using BCDedit (instead of EasyBCD). Both BCDedit and EasyBCD essentially do the same things - they tweak the Boot Configuration Data that's referenced by the Windows Boot Manager. One key step here is to copy the "first 512 bytes of our Ubuntu partition", so that's a good reference to have. I'm assuming neither of them do that on their own, bu if so that would help justify the "easy" moniker . Not sure if I did that part, although it wouldn't have mattered because BOOTMGR won't boot it from an extended partition anyway.

In short, with Legacy / MBR hardware:

• If you want to use the Windows Boot Manager (on the MBR), all OS's must be on primary partitions.
• If Linux root is installed on an extended partition, must use Grub on the MBR to boot it.
  - Then update Grub to chain load the Windows boot manager to run your Windows OS's.

Found a decent reference for this. An explanation for why you can't "bootstrap such secondary volumes directly from the firmware" can be found here:
https://superuser.com/questions/2908...ded-partitions
A work-around is to use a boot manager (or GRUB).

Also considering using rEFInd (although it requires UEFI) or another boot manager:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/7608...nstead-of-grub

Just a quick update. I got all of the OS's on my system booting again. I was able to convert the secondary partition(s) back to primary using the Windows Disk Management tool. Needed an extra primary partition so I had to delete the Recovery partition after backing it up, making an ISO with ImgBurn and then a bootable Win 7 recovery flash drive using the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool (bit of a misnomer). Finally I reinstalled Ubuntu.

Think I'll stick with GRUB2 from now on. Repairing a non-booting Windows OS is a PITA. Every how-to I could find says you need a recovery or installation disc. What if you don't have one like everyone that upgraded to Windows 10 from 7 or 8? Wish there was a generic Windows boot repair tool one could download.