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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?
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.
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..
Oh, wait! I just got the machine booted. After ejecting the OS disk and restarting a few times, the final time it finally broke through and started. I am at the desktop now.
OK, then the rest is now merely background, what I need now s to address the Command Promo issue I wrote about. I need that in order to run the fixes I found for the Cumulative Update issue - and see if they even solve that issue.
Why do I not have Command Prompt int that list, when holding down the Windows key and the X key? What I see is Power Shell and Power Shell (Admin). Is that replacing Command Prompt in Windows 10 Creator's Update?
If that is not replacing it, where is it? (I note, I have a shortcut to Command Prompt, and that takes me to it, opens it, but not in Admin level.) I note, I have run a global search of the computer, and it says it cannot find Command Prompt -- but its there, I can open it with that shortcut.
Wait, I see the one other thing they offer on the install disk is Go Back to Previous Version.
I ignored that, did not want to go back to Windows 8.1. But in looking at the vague explanation for it, is that simply taking me back to before the last update? If so, that is like going to an earlier Restore Point.
I don't want to start that and end up at Windows 8.1, done from the restore partition, or even at pre-Windows 10 Creator's Update.
The language keeps talking of a previous VERSION, but the last words in the last sentence say "SINCE YOUR MOST RECENT UPDATE." Here is that language:
"If you're running into problems with the current version of Windows, going back to the previous version might fix them.
"This won't affect your personal files, but you'll lose any changes you've made to apps and settings since your most recent update."
So, by "your most recent update," are they talking of updating to Windows 10, or to Windows 10 Creator's Update -- or the updates I ran last week?! I cannot guess about this, I have to know definitively. I cannot risk going to an earlier OS version, rather than to last week's updates but called a version. If I'm going to pre-Windows 10 Creator's Version, I would be better off using the image, and thus knowing I'm starting that far into it. I have done fairly little since then, especially since about the turn of June. (And whatever I've done is lost, as I have no idea what I might have done.)
PS -- and its 94 degrees here, I'm sweltering, which doesn't help anything.
Hello Slance310,
Long time, no hear -- which is generally good news. That means I have bad news. :( So I come to the expert once more.
Yes, I am so furious, even North Korea should fear crossing my patch. I am not willing to expend days and days and weeks trying to deal with this. I have expended far and away too much of that already in the past, I am done with that on Windows. And this needs to get fixed once and for all, I can't keep doing a lot of effort to fix this updating issue only to have it fail a subsequent time anyway.
The current issue is too complicated to explain, but its first appearance is that again, I can't install a Cumulative Update. I have trouble with them all often. But from there, as I write, I have further complications.
I think for the Cumulative Update issue, the first thing I need to address is that I can't get Command Prompt (Administrator). Without that, I can't run the fixes I find on a Google search, they all require Command Prompt (Administrator). But I'll get back to that.
Right now, in the process if poking around, I fouled up the OS, can't boot. I am trying to use my Windows 10 Creator's Update disk to restore to an earlier restore point, but it won't let me, it tells me to restart and pick an OS. Do I need to explain how irritating that is when the problem is that I can't start up! Besides, what does "pick on OS mean," that isn't something I can do during my startup? And that has nothing to do with starting up from the Windows 10 install disk! And don't forget, I have to switch for UEFI boot to Legacy boot in order to boot from the DVD install disk; I can't boot the internal drive from Legacy. So, I can't just startup and pick an OS, even is picking an OS were something that can be done. (I think in their poor language, that means boot from the OS you want to Restore from! That is stupid, since often you restore because you can't boot! What does this "restart and pick an OS' even mean!?)
I then tried to run Startup Repair. It ran, but could not fix anything, failed. So that isn't going to get me booted. (What I fouled up, made a mistake in just poking around and testing, was something that had something to do with reassigning file associations, and I stopped it in the middle because I realized it was a mistake. I guess that's too confusing for Startup Repair to deal with. So I want to go to an earlier restore point.)
So, my last option is my backup image. I would have to run that, I think it is from before I went up to Creator's version, or maybe it is from right after that. I won't know until I replace everything with that image -- and either way, iI would then have to run all updates since last April, a ton of them. SAVE ME!
Once I can boot again, then I can see about fixing the issue of Command Prompt, and then see if with that I can fix the Cumulative Updates issue.
I noticed a while back that Command Prompt is nowhere to be found. It should show in the list that comes up when you hold down the Windows key and hit the X key. But it is not in the list. I note, I do have in the list Power Shell and Power Shell (administrator). I wondered if that was a new name for Command Prompt. I open it, it looks different but looks like it is for putting in line commands. But it won't let me use it as administrator, says I don't have permission. (I changed the user name on the computer a long time ago from The Person to Computer. I thought that simply changed that name, but the name The Person is still floating around on the computer. But it always boots as Computer, I know of no way to make it boot as anything else. I am wondering is the The Person is still administrator and Computer is not?)
Are you starting to get lost is all the complications? You must see why I want to explode and throw this thing in the garbage.
OK, back to the immediacy. Do you know how I can get to a restore point? I explained how it won't let me do that from booting from the Install disk -- insane, why even have it on the install disk if it won't let you use it!? What's the f-ing point?! All this time I thought I had this as a backup, and now when I need it, it is useless.
If I can't do this with one of the restore points on there, I have no choice that I know of other than to go back to my image of right before going up to Creators Update version! And then run 6 months of updates, and a bunch of cumulative updates that surely won't work, AND the huge download to go up to creators update -- well, maybe I can do that from my bootable disk.
What can I do, the easiest, fastest thing to do? A f-ing restore point to a month ago is the way to go, but it won't let me. I note, I can run Command Promt from the Crator's Update disk -- but I don't think any command will be useful for this. (I can run Command Prompt, I can run Startup Repair, but I cannot do a Restore to an earlier restore point! What is the point of having a restore point if you can't use it unless you don't need it?)
Thank you for any help.
