An alternative to storing GRUB in the MBR is keeping Windows' or other generic PC boot code in the MBR, and installing GRUB or another bootloader into a primary partition other than that of Windows, thus keeping the MBR neutral.
[4] Operating system selection at boot time consequently depends on the bootloader configured within the primary partition that has the boot or "active" flag set on its partition table entry, which could be a bootloader of
DOS,
OS/2,
eComStation, Blue Lion
[5] and/or
BSD, in addition to Linux and/or Windows.
With the boot flag set on the Windows primary, the Windows Boot Manager can be used to chainload another installed bootloader by employing usage of a program like EasyBCD.[6] This means the active partition's boot manager will first prompt the user for selection what OS to boot, then load another if necessary, such as GRUB, even a bootloader installed to a logical partition, and then GRUB will load the Linux kernel as it normally would were GRUB installed to the MBR.
The active partition could also be one that exists for no purpose other than choosing an operating system to boot , such as the Boot Manager that shipped with IBM's OS/2 Warp and with eComStation.