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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..
CaddyMick. thank you. That Advanced Restart is in Win8, and the restart takes you to a page with various things, including OEFI, which simply takes you to the F2 bios, and Startup Settings. When it restarts to that page, I do not get the "Boot from CD" option you got. That's the very thing I'm talking of trying to do from F12 to get to Boot Manager and select that drive. It is not listed in my Boot Manager, so I can't select it.
This is why tomorrow I will try setting the computer to Legacy Bios -- that might allow me to boot from the CD drive. Maybe your machine is set to Legacy bios?
me1004,
This may seem like an obvious question - is your boot CD/DVD loaded in the drive before you set the boot order (F2/F12)?
"First make sure your boot CD/DVD is inserted in the drive before you try to edit the boot order in BIOS. If it's not you probably won't see the drive listed as an option to boot from."
CaddyMick
CaddyMick, ha. I understand the need for the question -- dumb things and forgetfulness happens all the time. Yes, I have the disk inserted and loaded. :) And, when it doesn't boot from the disk, and the startup continues and boots to the hard drive, the CD is perfectly readable/accessible, so reading it was not the issue at startup either.
My best info at this point is it is not booting the CD because bios are set to UEFI boot mode, and neither CDs nor USB can be booted in UEFI mode. But I am warned that if I set bios to Legacy, the Win 8.1 on the HDD will not boot, it needs UEFI. Slance310 says maybe not.
I shouldn't have to be switching back and forth, I should be able to do it via Boot Manager, but only the Win 8.1 HDD shows there, can't select the internal optical drive with the bootable disk in it.
I will be testing later this morning.
I just tested with changing boot mode to Legacy.
With that, it boots the CD fine. and in then starting via F12 to Boot Manager, it lists the HDD, the CD-DVD drive, and Network -- not that I need that once I'm in Legacy mode, in Legacy mode it is following the boot order I have in bios, where I have internal optical drive as first in the list. I don't have a bootable anything in USB, and it does not show USB in the Boot Manager list, but maybe it will if I put a bootable USB something in.
I then took the CD out and tested to see if it would boot to the HDD in Legacy mode. It would not.
I switched bios back to UEFI mode, and with that it booted to the HDD. Bios page was the same in either mode, so there were no problems in switching back.
I note, while in Legacy mode, even using Boot Manager, I could not boot from the HDD.
So, that's it. If I want to boot from the optical drive, and I am presuming also a USB drive, then I have to change the boot mode every time and change back again to be able to get to the HDD.
I consider this merely a workaround, not how it is supposed to be able to handle this. I'd still like it if someone could come up with away to not have to go back and forth like this, but I can do this in the meantime and function at least.
Seems to me there is something somewhere in Win 8.1, maybe in control panels, to run something in Legacy, but I think that is just for applications. But maybe changing that would allow the CD to boot out of UEFI, although I doubt it since I believe the OS is not engaged yet when the optical drive is chosen for booting.
Thanks everyone -- you have been great in helping.
