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

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.

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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
    2016-01-31T16:44:40+00:00

    Hi,

    Your ISO shouldn't vanish... mine didn't... It was intended for you to keep...

    It wouldn't be a bad idea to save a copy of it to a external drive though...

    The Create Media has a option on the screen to burn a DVD... maybe because you saved a ISO and burned with Nero, it somehow triggered Windows Image Burner to Open also..

    From what I can tell about the Image Burner is that it is not a stand alone process, unless you possibly knew the commands to run it from a Command prompt...

    I think you may be getting the In Use message because the file is still open in the Virtual Drive... It should appear in ThisPC as a Blue Icon for the drive...

    If you still don't have ThisPC showing on your Desktop, just open any folder and it should be showing on the left side of the window... Just Eject it...

    A ISO is like a zip file... it needs to be unpacked to be useable...

    That is why you need a Image Burner...

    Once it is burned to a DVD you will not see a ISO on the DVD because it is no longer a ISO... Like a unzipped zip file is no longer a .zip file...

    If you have a program like 7-Zip or WinRAR you can actually unpack a copy of the ISO as well... just like you would a .zip file...

    I use a Virtual Drive, but that is just my preferred method... Extracting the ISO or copying it from the DVD to a folder is also an option..

    I would agree that there are a lot of things Microsoft could provide better instructions for... In many ways they do, but they are not in plain sight... You need to hunt for them...

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-01-31T16:14:38+00:00

    Yes, when I did  my search, that is  one  of the multiple results and places listed  for that application. As System 32, I have to  think that  is the 32 bit version. There also is a 64 bit version. But I couldn't  open either at their location. It opened via right clicking on the ISO and selecting Burn from the list. Clicking Finnish did not open  it, and I would not proceed to that until I already had burned the ISO. 

    At the moment, something more important, about whether the ISO the download created on my desktop will disappear if I shut  down the computer. (They hare making things now to disappear after  some certain usage or other reasons.)

    Yes, that download process made an ISO on the desktop. What I'm afraid of  now is that it might disappear if I  shut down my computer. This because it apparently is open in  the  System, I don't see it  opened, so maybe there  is some virtual thing or something else that will be lost  if I shut down my  computer?  What do you know  about that?

    In the end, that notation at the end of  making the ISO was simply  misleading, not only in  not giving any idea  what to do with that string or what it was trying to say but also  in  not saying how to access this hidden application -- it could have  said to right click! And in simply giving an instruction in that manner,  leading the reader to  think this is something necessary to do and use. Gee, even when you open the application via right  click, you don't put in any string. I still have  no idea what the  string is about.

    That message is on the same window as the Finish button. It  is on top, and the Finish button on the bottom -- which suggests to deal with  the message before you hit the Finish button. And that string  -- it does  not  tell you what to  do with that string!  I still don't know,  but the way to  do the burn  is by right clicking on the ISO and selecting Burn. 

    That is a VERY bad communication by Microsoft. Why they would list that string with no  instructions of  what  it is  or what to do with  it,  instead of simply saying to right  click on  the ISO  and select burn -- unconscionable.

    In the end, that application is there, but it is not needed, as we now know, I can just burn it with any burning application capable of burning ISOs.  I used Nero to burn the ISO.

    When I right click on the ISO, it gives the choice of "Burn." But the OS apparently offers burning capability only for  ISOs.

    RE the contents of the DVD being copied, as in  dragged and copied to the desktop, they don't need to be bootable, that is to get them to the desktop to run the upgrade from the desktop. 

    The upgrade can be run from the desktop, does not  need to be run  from an external bootable drive.  With the DVD needing to be booted in Legacy, but the restart in the midst of the upgrade  being from the computer, so needing to be started in UEFI, it would be better to run the ISO from the  desktop so  no need to catch the bios  at  the  restart  during the upgrade in order to switch back  to  UEFI -- or miss  it and run into a disaster possibly. 

    This is a  major issue the instructions fail to even mention! I can only imagine what a disaster it would be  to miss catching the bios during reboot and then not be able to boot, and having the  only  option being to crash it for a restart. Then you very  possibly would  not be able to boot at all no matter what, and you might have to erase the  whole  disk to start fresh with a blank disk, and lose all your files. So good thing I  learned about that Legacy-UEFI stuff, or this scenario is what I would have blundered into -- yet another  Windows landmine!

    The  bootable DVD would only be needed in order to run it either to install on a blank disk  (which I think  it can do) or to run it to fix or  replace an OS that for which I can't start  up and access the desktop.

    I would not think, the ISO  from the desktop would   need to be bootable, it would not lose anything  needed for the installation without that, would it? That restart  is from the computer, not the ISO, right? The  computer can't  start from an  ISO on the desktop,  right?  

    Actually, I  would not have presumed it won't be bootable after the copy, since everything is on the ISO and the entire ISO is  being brought over. But for what I'm  doing, that point is merely academic, as long as it  will still run the  upgrade fine.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-01-31T10:28:36+00:00

    Hi,

    I misread your question... I thought the media creation tool burned the DVD...

    I missed the part about Nero...

    If you can't drag the ISO, try just copying it to another location... That should work even if in use...

    Again... Have you clicked on FINISH for the creation tool and closed Nero ?

    When you were testing the Image Burner it may have opened a Temporary Drive as I mentioned... You will need to EJECT it to move the ISO..

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-01-31T10:14:54+00:00

    Hi,

    I have seen the Disc Image Burner before, but had forgotten about it...

    It doesn't actually appear on my machine because I too many other burning programs I guess...

    The ISOBURN is in C:\Windows\System32...

    This works by creating a temporary Virtual Drive I just found out..

    Also, right click on a ISO and see if something like "Load Into new Emulated Drive" appears at the top of the menu... This doesn't seem to work with my machine...

    There may also be a Virtual Drive available to run the program another way... Again, this doesn't work on my machine...

    http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3579-iso-img-file-mount-unmount-windows-10-a.html

    The contents of the DVD can't be copied and still be bootable...

    The installation will run from within windows, but won't boot...

    You would need to make a image of the DVD with something like Nero, and then burn the image to another DVD... It will make a ISO Image or a Nero .NRG Image..

    You may actually already have a ISO... when you burned the DVD there was probably a message as to where it was stored... The file is just called WINDOWS...

    Look in the folder where your default downloads go...

    I'm not sure why you are getting the message... did you click FINISH on the Create Media window after it burned the DVD ?

    Look in ThisPC... you may need to EJECT something... but look for the ISO first.

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