diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index c729a29..2ba3087 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -131,6 +131,11 @@ Partition options:
 :bootable:		Boolean specifying whether to set the bootable flag.
 :in-partition-table:	Boolean specifying whether to include this partition in
 			the partition table. Defaults to true.
+:forced-primary:	Force this partition to be a primary partition in the
+			MBR partition table, useful when the extended partition should be
+			followed by primary partitions. If there are more partitions
+			defined after the first forced-primary, they must be also defined
+			as forced-primary. Defaults to false.
 :partition-uuid:	UUID string used by GPT partition tables to specify the partition
 			id. Defaults to a random value.
 :partition-type-uuid:	String used by GPT partition tables to specify the partition type.
diff --git a/genimage.c b/genimage.c
index d626dec..a10a001 100644
--- a/genimage.c
+++ b/genimage.c
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ static cfg_opt_t partition_opts[] = {
 	CFG_STR("align", NULL, CFGF_NONE),
 	CFG_INT("partition-type", 0, CFGF_NONE),
 	CFG_BOOL("bootable", cfg_false, CFGF_NONE),
+	CFG_BOOL("forced-primary", cfg_false, CFGF_NONE),
 	CFG_BOOL("read-only", cfg_false, CFGF_NONE),
 	CFG_BOOL("hidden", cfg_false, CFGF_NONE),
 	CFG_BOOL("no-automount", cfg_false, CFGF_NONE),
@@ -396,6 +397,7 @@ static int parse_partitions(struct image *image, cfg_t *imagesec)
 		part->align = cfg_getint_suffix(partsec, "align");
 		part->partition_type = cfg_getint(partsec, "partition-type");
 		part->bootable = cfg_getbool(partsec, "bootable");
+		part->forced_primary = cfg_getbool(partsec, "forced-primary");
 		part->read_only = cfg_getbool(partsec, "read-only");
 		part->hidden = cfg_getbool(partsec, "hidden");
 		part->no_automount = cfg_getbool(partsec, "no-automount");
diff --git a/genimage.h b/genimage.h
index 63995ac..7eafe57 100644
--- a/genimage.h
+++ b/genimage.h
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ struct partition {
 	unsigned char partition_type;
 	cfg_bool_t bootable;
 	cfg_bool_t extended;
+	cfg_bool_t forced_primary;
 	cfg_bool_t read_only;
 	cfg_bool_t hidden;
 	cfg_bool_t no_automount;
diff --git a/image-hd.c b/image-hd.c
index d1fe303..1b2bfe8 100644
--- a/image-hd.c
+++ b/image-hd.c
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ struct hdimage {
 	unsigned int extended_partition;
 	unsigned long long align;
 	unsigned long long extended_lba;
+	unsigned long long extended_size;
 	uint32_t disksig;
 	const char *disk_uuid;
 	int table_type;
@@ -137,7 +138,7 @@ static int hdimage_insert_mbr(struct image *image, struct list_head *partitions)
 	struct hdimage *hd = image->handler_priv;
 	struct mbr_tail mbr;
 	struct partition *part;
-	int ret, i = 0;
+	int ret, i = 0, extended_written = 0;
 
 	if (hd->table_type == TYPE_HYBRID) {
 		image_info(image, "writing hybrid MBR\n");
@@ -160,6 +161,9 @@ static int hdimage_insert_mbr(struct image *image, struct list_head *partitions)
 		if (hd->table_type == TYPE_HYBRID && part->extended)
 			continue;
 
+		if (part->extended && extended_written)
+			continue;
+
 		entry = &mbr.part_entry[i];
 
 		entry->boot = part->bootable ? 0x80 : 0x00;
@@ -171,12 +175,21 @@ static int hdimage_insert_mbr(struct image *image, struct list_head *partitions)
 		else {
 			entry->partition_type = 0x0F;
 			entry->relative_sectors = (hd->extended_lba)/512;
-			entry->total_sectors = (image->size - hd->extended_lba)/512;
+			entry->total_sectors = hd->extended_size/512;
 		}
 		hdimage_setup_chs(entry);
 
-		if (part->extended)
-			break;
+		image_debug(image, "[MBR entry %d]: type=%x start=%d size=%d\n",
+					i, entry->partition_type,
+					entry->relative_sectors, entry->total_sectors);
+
+		if (part->extended) {
+			if (!extended_written) {
+				extended_written = 1;
+				i++;
+			}
+			continue;
+		}
 		i++;
 	}
 
@@ -215,8 +228,9 @@ static int hdimage_insert_ebr(struct image *image, struct partition *part)
 	struct mbr_partition_entry *entry;
 	char ebr[4*sizeof(struct mbr_partition_entry)+2], *part_table;
 	int ret;
+	unsigned long long ebr_offset = part->offset - hd->align + 446;
 
-	image_info(image, "writing EBR\n");
+	image_debug(image, "writing EBR to sector %llu\n", ebr_offset / 512);
 
 	memset(ebr, 0, sizeof(ebr));
 	part_table = ebr;
@@ -245,7 +259,7 @@ static int hdimage_insert_ebr(struct image *image, struct partition *part)
 	part_table[1] = 0xaa;
 
 	ret = insert_data(image, ebr, imageoutfile(image), sizeof(ebr),
-			  part->offset - hd->align + 446);
+			  ebr_offset);
 	if (ret) {
 		image_error(image, "failed to write EBR\n");
 		return ret;
@@ -756,6 +770,7 @@ static int hdimage_setup(struct image *image, cfg_t *cfg)
 	struct partition *autoresize_part = NULL;
 	int has_extended;
 	unsigned int partition_table_entries = 0, hybrid_entries = 0;
+	unsigned int mbr_entries = 0, forced_primary_entries = 0;
 	unsigned long long now = 0;
 	const char *disk_signature, *table_type;
 	struct hdimage *hd = xzalloc(sizeof(*hd));
@@ -821,11 +836,38 @@ static int hdimage_setup(struct image *image, cfg_t *cfg)
 				"multiple of 1 sector (512 bytes)\n", hd->align);
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
+	if (hd->table_type == TYPE_MBR && hd->extended_partition)
+		mbr_entries = hd->extended_partition;
 	list_for_each_entry(part, &image->partitions, list) {
 		if (hd->table_type == TYPE_NONE)
 			part->in_partition_table = false;
 		if (part->in_partition_table)
 			++partition_table_entries;
+		if (hd->table_type == TYPE_MBR && part->in_partition_table) {
+			if (!hd->extended_partition && partition_table_entries > 4) {
+				hd->extended_partition = mbr_entries = 4;
+			}
+			if (part->forced_primary) {
+				++forced_primary_entries;
+				++mbr_entries;
+				if (partition_table_entries <= hd->extended_partition) {
+					image_error(image, "partition %s: forced-primary can only be used for "
+							   "partitions following the extended partition\n",
+						    part->name);
+					return -EINVAL;
+				}
+			} else if (forced_primary_entries > 0) {
+				image_error(image,
+					    "cannot create non-primary partition %s after forced-primary partition\n",
+					    part->name);
+				return -EINVAL;
+			}
+			if (mbr_entries > 4) {
+				image_error(image, "too many primary partitions\n");
+				return -EINVAL;
+			}
+			image_debug(image, "mbr_entries %d\n", mbr_entries);
+		}
 		if (!part->align)
 			part->align = (part->in_partition_table || hd->table_type == TYPE_NONE) ? hd->align : 1;
 		if (part->in_partition_table && part->align % hd->align) {
@@ -834,9 +876,6 @@ static int hdimage_setup(struct image *image, cfg_t *cfg)
 				    part->align, part->name, hd->align);
 		}
 	}
-	if (hd->table_type == TYPE_MBR && !hd->extended_partition &&
-			partition_table_entries > 4)
-		hd->extended_partition = 4;
 	has_extended = hd->extended_partition > 0;
 
 	if (hd->disk_uuid) {
@@ -961,7 +1000,7 @@ static int hdimage_setup(struct image *image, cfg_t *cfg)
 		/* reserve space for extended boot record if necessary */
 		if (part->in_partition_table)
 			++partition_table_entries;
-		part->extended = has_extended && part->in_partition_table &&
+		part->extended = !part->forced_primary && has_extended && part->in_partition_table &&
 			(partition_table_entries >= hd->extended_partition);
 		if (part->extended) {
 			now += hd->align;
@@ -1053,6 +1092,10 @@ static int hdimage_setup(struct image *image, cfg_t *cfg)
 		}
 		else if (part->extended)
 			hd->file_size = part->offset - hd->align + 512;
+
+		if (part->extended) {
+			hd->extended_size = part->offset + part->size - hd->extended_lba;
+		}
 	}
 
 	if (hybrid_entries > 3) {
diff --git a/test/hdimage-fail10.config b/test/hdimage-fail10.config
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..782c090
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hdimage-fail10.config
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+image test.hdimage {
+	hdimage {
+		align = 1M
+		extended-partition = 3
+	}
+	partition primary1 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition primary2 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition extended1 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition extended2 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition primary3 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+		forced-primary = "yes"
+	}
+	partition primary4 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+		/* would be 5th primary partition */
+		forced-primary = "yes"
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/hdimage-fail11.config b/test/hdimage-fail11.config
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06bf64b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hdimage-fail11.config
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+image test.hdimage {
+	hdimage {
+		align = 1M
+		extended-partition = 1
+	}
+	partition extended1 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition extended2 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition extended3 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition extended4 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition primary2 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+		forced-primary = "yes"
+	}
+	partition extended5 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+		/* extended partition would overlap the forced-primary one */
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/hdimage-fail8.config b/test/hdimage-fail8.config
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f55faa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hdimage-fail8.config
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+image test.hdimage {
+	hdimage {
+		align = 1M
+		extended-partition = 1
+	}
+	partition part1 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+		forced-primary = "yes"
+		/* forced-primary can be only used for partitions defined after the extended partition */
+	}
+	partition part2 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part3 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part4 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part5 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/hdimage-fail9.config b/test/hdimage-fail9.config
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d811b7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hdimage-fail9.config
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+image test.hdimage {
+	hdimage {
+		align = 1M
+	}
+	partition primary1 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition primary2 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition primary3 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition primary4 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition primary5 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+		/* part4 is implicitly extended -> too many primary entries */
+		forced-primary = "yes"
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/hdimage-forced-primary.config b/test/hdimage-forced-primary.config
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c15b3a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hdimage-forced-primary.config
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+image test.hdimage {
+	hdimage {
+		align = 1M
+		disk-signature = 0x12345678
+		extended-partition = 2
+	}
+	partition part1 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0xc
+		bootable = "yes"
+	}
+	/*
+	* partition 2 will be the extended partition entry
+	* partitions 3-4 will be primary partitions at the end
+	* partition 5 is first logical partition of the extended partition
+	*/
+	partition part5-logical {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part6-logical {
+		image = "part2.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part7-logical {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part8-logical {
+		image = "part2.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part9-logical {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+	}
+	partition part3 {
+		image = "part1.img"
+		partition-type = 0x83
+		forced-primary = "yes"
+	}
+	partition part4 {
+		image = "part2.img"
+		partition-type = 0x82
+		forced-primary = "yes"
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/hdimage-forced-primary.fdisk b/test/hdimage-forced-primary.fdisk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff0e903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/hdimage-forced-primary.fdisk
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+Disk identifier: 0x12345678
+images/test.hdimage1:start=2048,size=2048,type=c,bootable
+images/test.hdimage2:start=4096,size=20480,type=f
+images/test.hdimage3:start=24576,size=2048,type=83
+images/test.hdimage4:start=26624,size=2048,type=82
+images/test.hdimage5:start=6144,size=2048,type=83
+images/test.hdimage6:start=10240,size=2048,type=83
+images/test.hdimage7:start=14336,size=2048,type=83
+images/test.hdimage8:start=18432,size=2048,type=83
+images/test.hdimage9:start=22528,size=2048,type=83
diff --git a/test/hdimage.test b/test/hdimage.test
index 967c22c..bd728a7 100755
--- a/test/hdimage.test
+++ b/test/hdimage.test
@@ -96,7 +96,11 @@ test_expect_success "hdimage syntax" "
 	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail4.config &&
 	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail5.config &&
 	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail6.config &&
-	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail7.config
+	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail7.config &&
+	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail8.config &&
+	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail9.config &&
+	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail10.config &&
+	test_must_fail run_genimage hdimage-fail11.config
 "
 
 setup_gpt_files() {
@@ -163,6 +167,14 @@ test_expect_success "hdimage no-partition" "
 	test_cmp 'hdimage-nopart.hexdump' '${testdir}/hdimage-nopart.hexdump'
 "
 
+test_expect_success "hdimage forced-primary" "
+  setup_test_images &&
+	run_genimage hdimage-forced-primary.config &&
+	sfdisk_validate images/test.hdimage &&
+	sanitized_fdisk_sfdisk images/test.hdimage > hdimage.fdisk &&
+	test_cmp '${testdir}/hdimage-forced-primary.fdisk' hdimage.fdisk
+"
+
 test_done
 
 # vim: syntax=sh