# Installlation Questions



## Harley51 (Dec 21, 2012)

Can FreeBSD be installed to an extended drive or does it prefer primary partition? Can grub be installed to the root partition as to keep it separated from all other software?


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## SirDice (Dec 21, 2012)

For the MBR scheme it has to be a primary partition.


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## mad2 (Dec 21, 2012)

FreeBSD doesn't come with grub but if you do install grub then install it on the mbr so that you can boot multiple OS's.  You will need to configure grub to boot FreeBSD though.

Here's a good tutorial.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2%20Other%20Os


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## Harley51 (Dec 21, 2012)

Let me re-ask the question. I already use easyBCD as a boot loader. So I can I load FreeBSD to a primary partition or extended. Can it's boot loader be installed to the root partition that FreeBSD is installed on. If so how?


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## wblock@ (Dec 21, 2012)

If you have a primary partition, use it.  Otherwise, EasyBCD may be able to start FreeBSD from an extended partition.  (The problem with extended partitions and FreeBSD is, AFAIK, all in FreeBSD's MBR boot loader.  With EasyBCD, that may not be a problem.)


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## Harley51 (Dec 21, 2012)

I got most of that. But I'm not clear on can FreeBSD bootloader be installed to the root partition and not the MBR? If so is there a chose during install on were to put the FreeBSD boot loader?


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## wblock@ (Dec 21, 2012)

If you are using a different boot loader, the FreeBSD one is not needed and should not be installed to the MBR.  And of course it can't be installed to the partition itself.  However, I don't think bsdinstall(8) gives the choice.  Back up your system, or at least the MBR, first.

Or just install VirtualBox, which does not endanger your MBR, partitions, or data and allows you to run multiple operating systems at the same time.


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