Can't Boot From Bootable CD -- Bios Set Correctly

Anonymous
2015-11-02T05:57:29+00:00

I am trying for the first time to boot my Windows 8.1 laptop from the internal CD-DVD drive. I have a bootable CD in there, and yes, I do have the bios set with CDROM drive as first in the list to boot from. But when I try to boot from the CD, it won't boot, instead the computer gives me this message:

"ATAPI CDROM has been blocked by the current security policy."

(Its actually a DVD drive.) All it lets me do at that message is hit the Enter key to OK the message, and then it boots from the hard drive.

I have no idea where "security policy" settings are or what they are set for. What do I have to do to get this to boot?

This is a Gateway laptop, 2.2 MHz Intel Pentium processor, 4 GB RAM, 64 bit OS, with Windows 8.1 fully updated, and Windows Defender running and fully updated.

I have already looked everywhere I can find, but nothing seems to address this message or issue, as follows:

*I went to Help menu to look up "Security Policy." While the computer is giving me the message about "security policy," the Help menu has no idea what "security policy" is, it just comes up blank!

*I went to Control Panels/System and Security/Action Center/Change Windows Settings/Smart Screen/... All I found in there that might be involved is a setting to block anything downloaded from the Internet until I give administrator access. Well, the booting issue didn't allow me to give administrator access (yes, I am the administrator) when I tried to boot, I only could hit the enter key to OK. Nonetheless, I changed to: notify me but proceed (not a quote).

With that, I tried again, but it still would not boot from the CD, got the same message, so that setting is not it. I changed the setting back.

I see no other setting there that could be related by even a stretch. And the control panels should be dealing with the OS anyway, and this is happening while trying to boot from the OS on the CD, not the hard drive. That is, this is something in the root.

*I then went into bios area (UEFI Firmware) by sweeping in from the right and into Settings/Change PC settings ..., and found a tab in bios for Security. Looking there, there is a list of things, but it lets me access only "Supervisor Password." It was currently set as "clear," meaning no password. I left it as that -- surely I can't need a password just to boot from a CD, and the message I got in trying to boot from the CD did not allow me to enter a password.

Other settings in the Security tab were not accessible. The only ones they included that might be remotely related were:

*Password on Boot, which was set as no password. But again, the message I get with this issue does not ask for nor allow me to enter a password.

*Secure Boot Mode: Standard (It does not let me access to change that.)

Some others also were in the list that are not worth listing, not even vaguely related.

I then went into some other things elsewhere in the main settings called Startup Settings. The only thing in there that sounded the least bit vaguely related was "Enable boot logging." I punched F2 to go into that, but the machine instead restarted, and did not start from the CDROM, same message again. I went back to it, and it is still listed as Enable boot logging, does not instead say Disable - so I don't know if anything even got changed. I did not touch it again, left it as-is.

So, that's it. I've checked all the settings I know about. Nothing about this bit about "ATAPI CDROM has been blocked by current security policy."

I tested with two DVDs that I have booted from in the past on other Windows machines -- they also would not boot, but they did not give me that message.

I note, all three CDs/DVDs are being read fine by the DVD drive once the machine is booted in Windows 8.1 from the hard drive - so the issue is not that the DVD drive can't read the disks.

Where is this "security policy" set?! What do I need to do to get this to boot from the CD?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2016-08-24T15:35:47+00:00

Hi,

So everything is back to normal... or at least working to your satisfaction ?

You seem to know more about manipulating your email than I do, but though I may be able to help by describing what my screen looks like !

I know how that kind of conversation goes... Not so much with Microsoft, but with my internet provider sometimes..

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-11-06T03:21:54+00:00

    Interesting, I just looked, yes I do have it in X86 too -- two version, wonder why? Also, even though I pinned the icon to the taskbar from opening the 64 bit version, when I open the eX86 version, it uses that same icon from the 64 bit version!

    The X86 version did not open the files  either. But  it is operating on a 64 bit OS.

    I don't know what you're talking about for "ownership." There is just permissions, not ownership. I have three for permissions: System, user, and administrator. The all have the same permission, has Allow for everything. I'm the only user, and I guess me as user is the administrator, both in one.

    There is nothing to indicate anything about  owner.

    No  matter the actual format, it is quite confusing that no player will play  them. I can play them on Mac only  out of Quicktime, but because I added either Flip4Mac or Perian, I think Perian is just codecs. As I recall, Flip4Macis to play wmv files in QT on Mac.

    But  makes no sense to  me that VLC player won't play wmv on either machine -- others are playing wmv out of  VLC on Windows.

    I'm at a dead end for getting these to play as thee ought to, out of  WMP, VLC Player  or QT.  All I can think of now is  to convert them to another format, but first I have to find something that will deal with them to convert them --  convert to anything, I surely can play anything else  and could convert again if I wanted a different format.

    Oh, I tried changing them to .mov again., It doesn't  play them, but it does play. It plays a blank, no audio and no video. Yes, the audio and video is wma and  wmv codecs.

    I  also reinstalled Klite, found the player, it won't play the files either. So I uninstalled that again

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-11-06T02:27:58+00:00

    Hi,

    I am not having an issue with .wmv files playing with WMP x86 or WMP x64.

    They are both on my machine... One in Program Files for x64, and another in Program Files (x86) for x32... You should have both as well already...

    I will mention that my machine was upgraded from Win 7 Pro which had Media Center...

    That might make a difference if you didn't start out with Media Center... It furnished a lot of codecs for WMP...

    There is more to it than that if VLC won't play it though...

    There may be an issue in which some machines have your issue, but none of mine do... Mine are Pro though, not Home...

    WMP will not play .MPG files... I'm wondering if there is some confusion there...

    That is because .mpg is very similar to a DVD Movie file which WMP is blocked from playing...

    I would suggest you make a copy of one of the problem files and change it's Ownership to yourself and see what happens...

    As I mentioned... I have previously copied files from a XP SP3 machine to a Win 7 machine, and had files I couldn't play and\or open... I had to change the Permissions and\or Ownership..

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-11-05T15:23:20+00:00

    Well, nix the idea  of changing the compatibility of the application to Win 7  or 8. I  went to  it in the Programs folder, and clicked through to Properties -- no compatibility tab for this. That's the only way I  know to  get to the compatibility stuff.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-11-05T15:03:57+00:00

    Re Permissions, you're misunderstanding what I was saying. "Everyone" is my term. I simply meant all entities, all users, all everyone on the computer has the proper  permissions to play the files -- rather than list everything.

    The bps is a thought. However, I note, I would expect that issue would only be if the file were too high bps for the application. In this case, the files are lower bps,  only around 365  bps. I would expect the  issue would only arise if the bps were too high for the application. That's why even in your example,  VLC would play them, because VLC would be able to handle higher bps.

    I don't think we will find the issue in the files; its something on  the computer, in the OS I would expect, although possibly in an application, but  I don't think the application specifically because I would find one that does play them - -and VLC would be the prime one expected to do  that,  but  it does not. Or at least QuickTime, if the issue  is that they are QT format.

    And again,  this problem  appears to be very widespread  when you go up to Win 10. But with the forums bogged down  with a ton of people who are having the problem rather than a ton who know the solution,  there aren't  answers out that that work. And of course, MS doesn't seem to be interested in fixing its software, so nearly a year and a half after Win 10, the issue remains.

    From  what I read in the forums, there was  a suggestion that the 64 bit version of Win 10  will not  play  wmv  files  in WMP. Not  sure, I think there  was another suggestion that that was being fixed or there was a work  around that  might help or something. Stupid, you would think 64 bit  would be superior, not inferior! Could it be that 64 bit will not play too LOW of bps?

    Since I have 64 bit Win 10, I presume the WMP that came with it also is 64 bit. If that were the issue, I should  be able to  go to MS and download the 32  bit version  and install that. But of course, when you go  to the WMP download page, it has it for all OSs -- except Win  10. For Win 10, it tells you you don't need to download it, you already have  it! How  stupid! How can you reinstall a application, or a different  level of  it, if   they won't let  you  have the installer!  Damn  them.  I did find WMP  in the Programs folder rather than in the X86 Programs folder. This might be the problem -- 64   bit. Maybe those hit and miss solutions unknowingly were find the problem issue and turning that issue off?  But again, no one  found the solutions to work  for everyone. Hmm, maybe I can run a Compatibility check   on the application and revert it to Win 8 or Win 7?  I'll try that.

    And its  so irritating that in  all the solutions offered, only one or two people say that worked, all others say it  did not, and none have worked for me.

    BTW, yesterday I ran chkdsk just  to go  through everything incase there was something corrupted. That  did not  solve this problem. I also did a deep scan with Windows Defender, it found no issue whatsoever.

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