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

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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
    2016-08-02T18:47:53+00:00

    Hi,

    Andre is trying to cover all the bases, and in the process made things a little confusing...

    It would be a good idea to allow the update to check for updates\drivers, but if you have internet issues it may be best to wait until the upgrade is done...

    There have been some preview Builds that would hang if there was a internet connection, but I have had no issues like that for over 6 months... Probably at least the last 10-12 builds...

    In reality, there probably isn't much new since you already have Win 10... it will just use those most likely... In your case because of your sometimes sporadic Wi-Fi connection, it may be best to turn it off, but that is one of those 50-50 calls...

    The clean boot stuff is something I never do... It will reduce the likelihood of a crash by not turning on a lot of stuff, but you should be able to tell if there may be issues from your last upgrade..

    BTW... You're lucky... all of the download links are dead at the moment... I don't really need it anyway because the last Preview is the actual Anniversary Update anyway...

    I was just wanting the official ISO...

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-02T18:21:20+00:00

    Got the ISO, have burned it to DVD and it boots. Will install from ISO on desktop.

    Question:

    We have talked about running the updates during installation in order to get certain things that will make the install go better. Seems smart. I want to do that.

    But I find a conflict in the links to directions about how to PREPARE to do the install. In that, it says to turn off Internet connection! But if I turn that off, I have to think I can;t do the downloads during that install.

    This is what it says in How to Prepare Your Computer Before Upgrading:

    If you are upgrading using the .ISO file, disconnect from the Internet during setup, if you are connected by LAN (Ethernet) or Wi-Fi, disable both then attempt setup again.

    That is after the directions about running the installer, at this link:

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows\_10-windows\_install/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-10-anniversary-update/fab99802-4358-49d9-8278-e9664cd56311

    Question: Should I turn WiFi off or not?

    And while you're looking at that, you can look at doing the Clean Boot, and do I really need to do all that, including turning off a bunch of things in Task Manager?

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135

    If I'm lucky, you will happen to be able to respond before I proceed. I'm ready to go except for these questions.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-02T03:36:04+00:00

    Tank you very much. And, I did remember turn off Automatic Updates this morning.

    Ge, reading that through, there are a thousand things to do before, during the install! Like a Clean Boot, which requires a big list of things to do to accomplish it. If all that needs to be done, the installer should just do that automatically. I doubt very many people know to do any of that, I wouldn't have if you didn't just send that. I didn't do that when I went from 8.1 to 10, or from 8.0 to 8.1.

    So, I will try to follow all that stuff and do it this time -- because I'm not going to do a backup first, have no disk to backup to unless I kill out a backup I don't want to.

    And after reading it, I will do the driver downloads during the install rather than after.

    I must say,k that is miles and miles of stuff to read, which is utterly ridiculous. It keeps linkng to another page, with miles of stuff to read on that, including links to more pages and miles of stuff on those to rad, and more links to more and more. There is no way I will ready 10,000 pages just to do an upgrade! The installer should handle everything I've read so far, but it doesn't. That's just plain stupid. And since I've never done any of that before, I don't think any of it is needed. They cant; turn these instructions into something that would leave even Einstein pulling his hair out, and all of it could be simply automated in the installer.

    I'll try to get through the stuff on the clean boot, but that's it, none of the rest of it. Well, it also said to turn off any antivirus, and I guess that includes Windows Defender -- how stupid, its their own application, they could deal with it in the installer.

    Thanks.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-02T02:13:18+00:00

    Hi,

    Here is an interesting article that describes how\where to get the new Win 10 ISO...

    Basically it will be available at the Win 10 create media link....

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-windows_install/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-10-anniversary-update/fab99802-4358-49d9-8278-e9664cd56311

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