Installing boot portion of Linux in an extended partition

I want to install Linux in an extended partiton. All part of Linux including the boot portion. Can I install the boot portion of linux in an extended partition or does the boot portion still have to reside in a primary partition?

 

my two linuxes are in two logical volumes in an extended partitions.
Their grubs are installed in the first sector of the respective logical volumes.
So, yes it's possible.

The only thing is that you need a way to load grub, since your bios will be looking for a primary partition.
In my case the boot loader in the primary partition is Vista's.
I added two entries, one for each linux.

 

Is it possible to have a 3rd party boot loader like System Commander 9 to boot linux in the extended partition and therefore eliminating the need to have the boat loader saved in any of the primary partition? I want to keep all my 3 primary partitions hidden when linux is running.

 

Well, if I want I can hide all my primary partitions in Linux.
All I have to do is to edit the fstab file and removing the lines about mounting or automounting /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3.

What do you mean, exactly, by "hidden"?

 

When I want to hide a partition, I want the currently running OS not to be even aware that it is there. Or if it is aware that it is there, not to be able to see the contents of the hidden partition.

I want to eliminate any chance that the currently running OS corrupting the other OS.

 

That should never happen if you have your Linux system not mount any other filesystems other than swap and /... for reassurance (if you're running XP), uninstall the package ntfs-3g and Linux won't even be able to write to NTFS.

 

OK thanks but back to the original question. Can I use a 3rd party boot loader to load linux? You said in your case, your boot loader is in the Vista partition. I don't want that. I want a completely separate boot portion for each OS in their respective partition.

 

No I don't think that that is possible. Whenever the computer is turned on, the the boot sector of the disc is searched first, then it boots whatever bootloader is present there. Also, the location of your bootloader has nothing to do with whether or not Linux sees the other partitions.

However if you are concerned about the bootloader being broken and not being able to boot Windows, that can easily be fixed with just an XP/Vista CD. Boot from the disc> enter recovery mode> invoke the command "fixmbr"