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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..
Hi,
That's useful info... I was thinking I might try Firefox, or at least see if there is a version foe XP... At one time I used Firefox for some of it's specialty features, but haven't used it lately...
I think one of my machines still has something like Firefox 4 on it. The OS has been updated, but not Firefox. That might be a project for this winter... At the moment I have all kinds of outdoor house and lawn work that needs to be done...
I haven't been spending much time on the Forums lately either. Too busy, and then too tired !!!
Oh, just Win 8.0 has stopped getting updates. I presumed that meant anything earlier too. Hmm.
Even without IE browser, you should still be able to use Firefox. I just wonder if they will continue updating and for how long. I have that issue on a G4 Mac I have here, a PPC Mac. No updated browsers for that, even Firefox stopped updating for PPC Mac. But at least one other, maybe a couple, have come out to fill the gap. There is one called TenFourFox (after OS X 10.4) that is good on OS X 10.4 and 10.5 PPC. It is Firefox with the stuff needed to make it run on PPC Mac added into it. So, you stay up to date with the newer Firefox stuff. Maybe you will be able to find something like that for your XP.
Hi,
Windows 7 is still supported, and possibly the last Service pack for Vista... Not real sure about the Vista... It was a real joke when first released, but was eventually debugged fairly well...
Windows 8 was cut off a little bit early... It was such a flop that I think Microsoft wants all traces gone... It is almost impossible to even download Win 8 media from Microsoft. Everything redirects to Win 8.1...
I still have a machine with XP Pro... it works great... just no more updates... You can still go to Windows Update and install all of the existing updates... The only problem with XP at the moment is that Microsoft is ending support for all Internet Explorers prior to IE11, and XP can run no higher than IE8... Sorry... kind of off the subject !
I also have a Hotmail address... and after logging into it, I then automatically get logged into the Windows Forums... There is no doubt that Microsoft can use that login and account info for other purposes...
Logging in to Windows with that account is what I refuse to do... This is something that is done instead of using a Password or PIN... It's called a Microsoft Account, and it is required to use things like Windows Store, and a lot of the apps...
I lived without them for years, and can continue to live without them for a lot more years...
All that soot from Azusa... It was clear down in South Torrance and the Redondo Beach Riviera Village area ! I suppose it blew right past your area before it fell !!!
This happened about the same part of history as the big quake that knocked down a bunch of the freeway overpasses in LA...
You're right though... There are big fires every year. Some are just bigger than others..
Oh, so my updater won't necessarily even get the Aug. 2 up date on Aug 2. OK. But I probably will be able to download it somewhere anyway, which is my preferred method anyway.
Cortana is one of the more privacy-violating things in Win 10 - I have it turned off and intend to keep it that way. But I see they are linking a lot of things into Cortana. I don't necessarily log into Windows, but I do have a Hotmail address I log into, so I suppose the OS picks up on and knows that, something I wish it did not know.
I knew they were dropping support for OSs below 10, just didn't know which were still being updated, if any. So, only 8.1 for now, and surely they wills top updating that too soon. Once everyone has no choice but to use Win 10, then they will start a subscription fee. But they will be pushing people to Mac and to Linux.
Yes, I had to run chkdsk to get the computer started up again. We did that when trying to see if fixing something with that would solve the issue we were having with reading the size of the image-partition we were trying to make to the external disk. I forget what I found to allow me to enter the chkdsk code even though I could not start form the computer, when I had that issue a few months ago.
Re the first, yes, it is part of the ecological system here. They have learned that the chaparrel in the mountains actually requires fire to germinate! I don't specifically recall the Agoura fire, there are so many. But I don't recall that much soot on the ground! Maybe more of it came down n the damper Westside than by me.
