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
    2017-04-15T05:47:06+00:00

    BTW, again, the issue with killing them is that Windows required the permissions of the owner, but it will not take the permissions of the owner. Yet, if the same object it taken off as owner, then Windows will take it permissions, but require permissions of the new owner, which it will not take. Win 10 is broken when it comes to permissions.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-04-15T05:43:52+00:00

    Dammit. I sent you a message earlier, and I see it never went, now is lost, I can't write that all again.

    Bottom line, the issue now is how to delete that last folder with the two folders in it. The other files on the drive are not important, don't amount to much. But that folder must go. Do you have any ideas? That is the issue to deal with now. And it is insane that I can't just kill it out. In the end, I might need every bit I can get to get one more image on the drive, so I want those few hundred MB.

    What is left in that now is NOT too big. Most of it has already been deleted, this is the small last part. I have only done one folder at a time, but I think you meat all in a folder might be too much - all that is gone now, though, just this bit left, not GB size like the others, this is only in 3-digit MB size. I have 4 GB RAM.

    I was not planning to reformat the drive -- if so, all this would be useless. :) Reformatting would erase everything. If I did that, to avoid losing my backup images, I would have to go the nuclear route first. 

    That's what I'm trying to avoid.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-04-15T01:45:21+00:00

    Hi,

    It is possible that it has taken multiple attempts to delete folders in because pmagic runs out of the memory... It is probably trying to save stuff for a "UNDO" operation type function, and is running out of memory to do it...

    One of the folders in question may be "System Volume Information"...

    You should probably keep that... even if you delete it, another will reappear after you reformat the drive...

    There is also probably a $RecycleBin, and the same thing applies...

    Everything else can probably be deleted... All you really need to keep is the folder with the Acronis Image... Or the actual "MyBackup.tib" files, or whatever you named them...

    Here is a pic of my C:\ drive... Virtually everything on there can be deleted except for the two folders I mentioned...

    I don't know if I would go through all the trouble of copying your images twice to get rid of a few hundred megabytes, but that is up to you...

    BTW... the folders that won't delete may be too big to do all at once... can you open them and delete some of the files individually ?

    Almost forgot the Pic...

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-04-15T00:41:05+00:00

    I got PMagic, burned it, booted from it, ran the function to delete the folders and files. Partial success, partial failure. There are still folders and files I can't kill out.

    That thing seems a bit shaky. I rebooted it 4-5 times and deleted more each time.

    First time, it ran through the deletion, but could not get it all done, left a lot still there, maybe even all, can't be sure. I rebooted to Windows, checked, seems a couple folders were now gone, and not sure I even had tried to delete them when in PMagic, at any rate, in PMagic they were not deleted.

    I rebooted to PMagic. Deleted again, this time some files it would not delete previously were deleted. Rebooted to Windows again to check, yes, seemed more were deleted, but 3 of the I think 5 folders were still there.

    Rebooted to PMagic again, same again, it deleted more that it would not delete previously, Again to Windows, yes, that was gone.

    Booted in PMagic again, but that was about it, what was left it would not delete.

    One folder left, two folders in it, each with subfolders. Not sure how much volume, but 3 digits MB. So, not a lot as compared to the original GB volume, but I want it gone.

    Also, when in PMagic, it showed what must be invisible files, a bunch of files outside the folders. I don't know what they are for, so I didn't delete any. I don't know if they went along with what I already deleted so are not needed, or if they went with the three Acronis images on the disk, maybe needed for Acronis to access them or something, or if they are completely independent, maybe something for the formatting. Or? I wish I knew, I would like to kill them if they are no longer needed. But that is somewhat minor.

    So, I don't know the main name of the folder that is left, I had changed it to gibberish the other day to see if that would allow me to delete it. It might be SYSTEM, but not necessarily. Inside there are two folders, one of those named System, I forget the other name. Some files in those folders.

    So, I'm closer, but not there yet. But I'm dead in the water.

    Do you have any idea what to try now? Otherwise I can only get it done via the nuclear approach.

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