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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..
Into it now. Jumping back and forth between projects.
Problem with Acronis: I'm trying to do the Image. I'm at the page to say where it goes and what to name it. It won't accept the backup location of the partitions I made for it, way bigger than needed. I didn't have this trouble before. Why now?
All I do is click on that location,and it fills in the spot for it as E:. And then I'm to add a name, which I have, even tried it with the optional Acronis-generated name. It won't do it to that partition.
I don't have the next six years to put on on this idiocy. The damn applications don't even work.
With Partition Wizard, erased, wiped, GPT'd it, and then partitioned with Partition Wizard. Did the 125 GB partition first, to unallocated space. NTFS, Primary, leaves it with 122 GB of space on it. Did the rest of the unallocated space as another partition. Yes, Idid hit the Apply button --which threw me for a while before I realized I had to click on that.
So, what;s the problem with Acronis?! The disk is fine. Acronis won't Image to the E:\
Hi,
What kind of an error message do you get... or what happens when you select E:\ and hit next ?
EDIT... Do both partitions show up on the external drive ?
Both partitions show up on the external drive, both are listed to select from in Acronis.
The message I get says:
"The file name, location or format is invalid (E:\MyBackup.tib).
Please type the file name or location in the correct format."
I gave up trying a name I wanted, and just used the button to generate a name, and it gave MyBackup. That entire format is put in by Acronis, and Acronis then says the format is no good! That is as assinine as it gets.
I tired both hitting the top listing with the disk icon, and the sublisting forth volume.Same either way. In Acronis, the volume folder is names System Volume Information.
I know originally, the first time I did this, I had thought I left the space for this image as just open space, not a partition. But no,that could not be, I could not have formatted it without it becoming a partition, not with that software.
I note, I had the option in Partition Wizard to assign a letter for the drive. I did not. The computer is assigning that partition as E, and the 125 GB partition as F -- the F is the first on the drive.
Its not saying the drive itself has a bad format, its saying the string for the location and name is formatted wrong. But Acronis formatted it!
Hi,
The fact you did not assign a drive letter may be the problem....
I'm really not sure what the problem is, but I am sure the problem is not Acronis...
There is something amiss with the External drive..
You might start over with the Partition Wizard...
You don't need to WIPE anything... just delete the partitions, and then create new ones...
Make sure it is a GPT Disk...
I am willing to bet that you assigned a drive letter when you created the partitions with Windows... you may not have even noticed... it is the default setting with Disk Management.
