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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..
Just finished doing it all again, complete failure, same in Acronis as last night, whether I use the 64 or 32 bit version.
Some difference in Partition Wizard, but I made it GPT this time via using the Convert to GPT button instead of the Initialize to GPT button; I used Initialize yesterday. I first converted to MBR. Then I converted back to GPT.
Today, using the Convert to GPT, I get no first 128 MB partition. So it must be Initializing that is doing that.
Also, I do not get the extra choices on the page where I set size and other stuff. Just like when I previously did it via Convert, unlike yesterday when I did it via Initialize.
But like I said, in the end, it made no difference to Acronis. Acronis will not accept its own formatting for the string to the location of the second partition and generating a name for the image. Acronis will allow me to proceed to Image to the 125 GB partition, the first on the drive.
BTW, you are using the same FREE Partition Wizard I have? OK. You're not using the paid version?
I did not plan to wipe the drive. I was saying I did that yesterday, to make sure all was clean, no residuals. So any thought of residuals from previous Windows formating can be disregarded.
I've told you everything I selected, as well as what was grayed out and so inaccessible. There's nothing more there.
Hi,
I understand what you are saying... I am saying it is a waste of time to do anything with Acronis File Recovery... Files are not partitions...
You can copy folders from programs files to another machine, but that doesn't make them installed... There is more to it than that..
Then trying to fix it with Windows Recovery is even a bigger waste of time...
If you want to use windows.. make your image with windows also...
That is a better option then trying to mix the two..
You do not need to WIPE the drive... Simply deleting what is there is good enough...
It takes 10 minutes at the most... DELETE is at the top of the menu...
I don't know why all of these issues keep happening with your drive...
I just did what you have tried, and what I have suggested that you do, and it worked perfectly... The only difference is the operator, and the IDE drive...
I can only suggest that you try again with Partition Wizard and hope for a different outcome...
I can't see what you are selecting to be able to determine if it is correct, or if the problem is with the drive..
Hi,
I forgot to mention... I have been using the 32 bit (x86) version of Acronis 2016...
Some of this you misunderstood. Allow me to explain.
I wasn't talking of recovering from the image with the flash drive. I was talking of a files recovery via Acronis -- since so far I can't do the partition recovery -- and then using the flash drive to make those recovered files bootable -- to fix it to make it bootable. Its a bootable restore or recovery flash drive made to fix drives.
Doing that on the system files after they are recovered might fix them to be bootable.
The only time I used Windows to make the GPT was the very first time. I've done it three times now. Yesterday and the time prior to that were done via Partition Wizard. The time Acronis would not do the partition recovery, the GPTing had been done via Partition Wizard.
When I got the 128 MB partitions last night, I had wiped and initialized the entire drive with Partition Wizard -- I spent half thee day yesterday zeroing out the drive to make sure all was clean. If there is any residual on it, there is no getting rid of that.
What you're telling me to do now is what I spent all day yesterday doing. Zeroing it outtakes a long time. If zeroing didn't get rid of it yesterday, I don't know why it would today. But I can delete the partitions and re-GPT it.
Partition Wizard offers Initialize to GPT and separately it has Convert to GPT. They might do the same thing -- or not -- but it doesn't have a single button identified as Convert (Initialize). (Again, bad design, two different names for the same thing -- maybe.) I don't know how it would convert without initializing, but it has two different places that each say it differently. Yesterday I did the Initialize one. The previous time, I did the convert one.
I think you did convert in your latest test, so I will use convert this time, unless you say otherwise.
The drive yesterday appeared in Partition Wizard with no 128MB partition on it before I initialized to GPT with Partition Wizard.
I will report later after I get to doing this again.
Thanks for sticking with this -- because other than my flash drive work around idea, I am completely out of ideas.
