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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..
Yes, good point. I'll look at the Gateways instructions when I get to that (but now I'm moving into a time of being buried in other things I must tend to) -- they might be the same as the Windows instructions anyway, but if not, I will do it the Gateways method. If nothing else,Gateways software provided an easier way to shut down the machine, from the Task Bar instead of having to click into the "Start" button and select in that list.
Hi,
What I don't know about the Windows method is whether it actually returns your machine to Out Of Box... It may just be Windows stuff...
It kind of sounds like it may use Gateway's partition, but I actually don't know...
There is preinstalled stuff in your machine that is provided by Gateway, and Microsoft wouldn't include that in estimating the size of a "Windows" Image...
That's the problem with that kind of stuff... You don't exactly what it does and does not do until you make it and try it... In some cases the only way to try it is to overwrite what is on the machine... and hope it works as expected
Oh, OK. Well, I already have the instructions of how to make a recovery drive to a USB flash drive with the Windows OS. That's what I was saying I was going to do after I dealt with the Image recovery. Here's what the Windows instructions say about it:
"
If you run into problems with your PC, a USB recovery drive can help you troubleshoot and fix those problems, even if your PC won't start.
Your PC might have come with a recovery image that’s used to refresh or reset your PC. The recovery image is stored on a dedicated recovery partition on your PC, and is typically 3-6 GB in size. To save space on your PC, you can delete the recovery image from your PC and use a recovery drive instead. Windows 8.1 includes a built-in tool to create a USB recovery drive. Windows will let you know how big the recovery partition is, and you'll need a USB flash drive at least that big.
"
The recovery drive will include only the recovery tools and a bootable image, but not a recovery image to use for refreshing or resetting your PC.
So you see, it says it will have a bootable image on it, which I take to mean it will boot. I don't know how it cold be used is you can;t boot the OS and need it to fix that if it couldn't boot.
I'll look at the Gateway info, but I don't see what it wold have other than that partition.
I note, even though Windows seems to think that partition is usually 3-6 GB in size, mine needs 16 GB of space, and that means it needs a 32 GB flash drive. Dang, I have only one that size, I have several at 8 GB! :) I wonder why mine is so much larger than usual. And these are the instructions in Win 8.1, and that is my 8.1 partition. Why doesn't Windows know how large a partition it has?! And 16 GB is to big to even consider putting it on a DVD; 3-6 GB could have been done to DVD.
But that won't change Windows 10 back to Windows 8.1.
In Mac, if you have all the necessary files on a disk img (Mac used a .dmg), you just burn it to Cd or DVD and it will boot. I always burn them with the dmg open -- people say you don't have to,but I figure it is easier for the machine to read it that way. But on Mac, there are invisible files in there that are needed in order to boot, so you can't copy a bootable disk and bot it, you have to clone if you want it to be bootable.
I just burned the Partition Wizard disk as a normal data burn, nothing special. It boots.
Hi,
I didn't mean to actually do a Recovery to your internal drive....
Just check to see if you get any error message when you select it...
I'm pretty sure the very first time you tried to Recover a partition, you tried the internal and the 125GB external. The 125GB was not selectable and the internal claimed it wouldn't be bootable, or something like that...
Those links for Gateway are not actually for a download, but instructions on how to make your own disks from that 15GB partition on your machine...
One is how to make them, and the other is how to use them...
The 3rd one is instructions on how to Recover the machine to it's factory using the 15GB partition directly... No disks needed...
You will lose that 15GB partition with an upgrade to Win10 though... That is where the disks would be handy... Or in the event of a HDD failure...
You can also purchase the disks, but I don't know how much... The ones for my machine were $20, but that varies widely by manufacturer...
There is a remote possibility tab your attempt at booting from a FILE Recovery wouldn't boot due to the "Active" status of the partition, but in order for something to be bootable it needs to be a drive or partition...
For instance... you can copy a ISO to a CD, but it won't be bootable...
There is a specific process that must be used to burn a ISO to a CD for it to be bootable...
The file all by itself is useless without the proper method to make it workable...
