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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..
Hi,
That article by PCWorld is what I was taking about in regard to Turning Off everything in "Privacy"...
I turned off virtually everything for everything on the left side of the window... Most of them I would never have use for anyway...
I had already turned off some Telemetry functions, but will look into what the other article mentions...
Bit Torrent is a File Sharing Service... It is also the name of the first offered.
The process is also known as P2P, or Peer To Peer File Sharing...
The way it works is a bit complicated, but basically a large file that is to be shared is broken down into a lot of small pieces. These are then uploaded to a server somewhere..
When someone then downloads the file, their computer becomes a server for that file.
The next person that downloads the file is then getting their Download from TWO servers... The original, and your's... It becomes obvious that eventually there are a bunch of computers uploading the files to the person that is downloading, which can really speed things up... OR... take a big load off of the original server...
Each machine is only uploading some of the small pieces of the file... the bits...
Once all of the bits have been collected, they are reassembled into the complete file...
Microsoft is now doing this with Windows Updates if you don't turn it off...
Any Updates your machine downloads are re-uploaded to other people's machines that need them, and possibly from Microsoft's Update Server as well...
Updates you download may be coming at least partially from your neighbors computer, or someone's in China...
This can be turned off by one of the Customized Settings at installation and\or from the Advanced Options in UPDATES I mentioned before...
At Installation, after you select the USER, the next screen has "Get Going Fast" with EXPRESS INSTALL on the lower right... In small text on the lower left corner is a link for Customize Settings...
I think it is the second window of options where you will see "Browser, Protection, and Update"... The selection will be the bottom one.
You can also turn off Cortana and a bunch of other stuff during the Customize Settings..
Good luck with Win 10 when you get to it...
That's what I have been doing today,,, upgrading to the newest Win 10 Preview Build 14251...
Just FYI, regarding the privacy stuff in Win 10, I have found two very helpful articles with a ton of stuff to address.
Note especially the second link, where it lists things behind the scenes that the settings don't succeed in stopping. For instance, even if you turn off Cortana, behind the scenes it is still sending some info to MS! (I told you they couldn't be trusted to actually stop it when you turn the setting to off!) Same with some other things. Not completely clear what the info is, and no way given to stop it explained.
www.pcworld.com/.../**windows**/how-to-reclaim-your-**privacy**-in-**windows**-**10** -piece-by-piece.html
Don't know what they might have found since these two articles were written, but this is a ton already. With this, I will next go up to Win 10, and do all this. Maybe alter today, maybe tomorrow.
Thank you for that info.
Tomorrow I'm going to google a little bit about the Win 10 privacy stuff, see what I find. This afternoon, I looked around and dug out the news story I originally read about it -- but that did not suggest Win 10 is lifting everything from your hard drive and sending it to MS. I don't see how I could have mis-remembered that, but maybe I saw that someplace else. This news article is more about collecting info on us that in pre-Win 10, but not really that much considering what the e-mail providers already are collecting, and I and many people have a Hotmail or Outlook account. Cortana seems to be one center of that, and that supposedly can be turned off.
You already have told of more privacy things to check than that news article did. Another thing it mentioned was WiSense.
How do I turn off that bit torrent-like effect of Windows Update? What is that setting called? I don't really know how a bit torrent server works. :) Is that a privacy thing, or just an irritant? Can that be turned off after installation -- I think that is what you are referring to in Advanced Options?
Re the imaging, so you have at some point imaged to USB and then unimaged back to the internal drive, and it works. OK. Good.
Hi,
I have never found a list of stuff to turn off in Win 10 to preserve Privacy as much as possible... Just bits and pieces here and there...
One thing that is important is that Windows Update will act like a bit Torrent Server if you don't change the setting to not allow it...
This is one of the things I make sure to turn off when I do a installation... It is one of the Custom Settings, and can also be turned off in the Advanced options for Windows update...
On a very regular basis I make images of Win 8, 8.1, and 10 to either a internal or USB Drive... Which one I use depends on what else I'm doing...
The bottom line is that at some point in time, I have Imaged EVERY windows 8 and 10 build to a USB drive, and later reimaged it back to the internal drive..
All using Acronis on bootable CD or Flash...
I normally just overwrite what was on the drive... nothing special... There may be rare occasions when it might be necessary to delete the old stuff first. I don't actually recall if Acronis provides a notice as what to keep or not. But there is a page of options as to modifying the partitions shortly before hitting the final "Proceed"
I actually MIGRATED twice... both times to the same external drive.. The first time the drive was connected by eSata, and the second time USB... The end result was the same.
If I hooked the Migrated drive up to my computer by eSata it would boot and run normally. If I hooked it up by USB it would try and boot, but would crash a few seconds after the Windows screen appeared..
You are correct in that this indicates all of the files are there... The problem is the actual USB connection..
You are also correct that more than four partitions requires GPT drives...
