Locked MBR Partition Scheme - Primary Partitions Limit

[Ahmed Haroon]

hi all,

On my laptop pc i had a 1 TB hdd, MBR scheme, which contains 4 partitions, C, E, System Reserved & Recovery.
C & E i created but another 2 i think HP and Win 10 created
all partitions are Primary
i want to install Ubuntu Linux for which i reduced my E drive size and spare 100GB for Linux ( unallocated yet )
MBR not allowing more than 4 Primary partitions, how i can install this OS?
can i change any of the partition ( except C & System Reserved ) from Primary to Logical and it will allow me to install Linux?
OR
if i change MBR to GPT ( using some partition utility from a bootable WinPE like Gandalf or Sterelec etc. ) is there any risk or trouble i will / can face? will Ubuntu installation done successfully and work fine?

I knew i can use WSL 2 but it creates problem for my Virtual Machines now, I have to uncheck both Windows features a) Virtual Machine Platform b) Windows Subsystem for Linux

or any other solution ?
regards

 

[SydneyM]

A GPT partition might be the answer to your problem, but you will need to re-install Windows as jsut converting MBR to GPT on the go will make your system unbootable.

 

[LauRoman]

Yes, you can convert a partition to logical. You can only have 4 primary partitions on a mbr formatted drive. An extended partition is a primary partition. It ca contain a large number of logicap partitions.

 

[faiza]

there is a software .. name mbr2gpt which can convet partition type .. you can also do it with EaseUS partion master without losing data.
also you ca do it with cmd

If you want to convert MBR to GPT without data loss via CMD, you need to back up your files in advance and then perform data restoring after the conversion. If there are lots of files on your disk, you are recommended to back up your data effectively using the free backup software - EaseUS Todo Backup.

After backing up the files and delete all the partitions on the disk, you can now follow the steps below to convert your disk using CMD.

Step 1. Open Command Prompt and type in DiskPart and press "Enter".

Step 2. Then type in list disk (Note down the number of the disk you which you want to convert to GPT).

Step 3. Then type in select disk X (the number of the disk).

Step 4. Finally, type in convert gpt.

 

[awaisiqbal]

@faiza I have got 256gb ssd. I want to clone my HDD with SSD. Can you suggest partition size/type and software which shall suite best to do the job.

An urgent response shall be highly appreciated

 

[SiteWizard]

@Ahmed Haroon man have you used google ???
No then do this ...

Create more than 4 partitions by converting a primary partition to logical partition

1. With Disk Management open, click on one existing primary partition and select Delete Volume. ...
2. Right click on the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
3. Follow the New Simple Volume Wizard to create a new partition.

 

[Ahmed Haroon]

thanks to all tried to help me at their best especially detailed guidance from @faiza
sorry for very very late replying here becoz of some serius problems, now everything is ok

thanks again to all Admin/Mod/Members of TeamOS for their struggle to help us in our various needs.
regards