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.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
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..

Was this answer helpful?

2 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

596 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2016-02-22T21:36:10+00:00

    I'm not going to move on this today, want to sleep on it. I know I'm not available on Wednesday, so either tomorrow or later in the week.

    I had thought of what you just mentioned about the link of the 17.6 GB of space from #5 to #3 - link or move, whatever, but did not write it last time because I was answering questions rather than raising more.

    I realized that if were the issue, that could answer why Acronis can't put 83 GB Image on what it sees as the original 81 GB of space on #3, before adding the 17.6 GB from #5 to make it 99.5 GB. If Acronis were not seeing the extra that was added, it would be seeing the 81 GB of original, and that is not enough for an 83 GB Image.

    But Acronis says there is not enough space for even the 71 GB Image from maximum compression! That's 10 GB less than the original empty space on #3. So whatever is going on, it is more complicated than simply the 17.6 GB of space not being read.

    Since I don't know anything else to do, I am presuming when I move, it will be to eliminate the migrated files. You are saying it would be OK to just kill P#1 and #2. But I don't understand why you say to add a tiny partition (I expect you mean 1 MB, not 1 TB. ) And you already suggested killing out #4 and 5. And I will manually kill out all the migrated files on #3, but keep the 8.1 image there.

    So then the idea is to expand #3 to the size of the free space on the disk -- I don't understand why to put a tiny partition before #3. I only worry about it -- because of the issue we found on the external drive from having a second partition. I don't recall exactly what that was, but there was something we could not do on the second partition that caused a lot of trouble for us. It was supposed to be able to be done, but we could not, although we could do it on the #1 partition. WE were wondering if it is because the external drive is IDE connecting to a SATA laptop. For that reason, I'm reluctant to have #3 become the second partition instead of the only partition. I suppose I could try it solo, and if any issues, then add a first, tiny partition.

    I would actually suspect that that might be the issue now -- except the migrated files were on the drive before I added the 8.1 Image to the desktop folder on #3, and that went smoothly when I finally did it.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2016-02-22T20:57:26+00:00

    Hi,

    #4 is small... #5 is not... I can't say how far Acronis is looking ahead in it's process...

    You can delete the #1 and #2... no problem... But to combine #3 with the open space may not work well... Skipping partitions leads to problems...

    A lot of Disk management programs simply will not permit this... GPT drives function a bit differently as far as stuff like that goes, but that doesn't mean the program accessing the drive will accept it...

    In other words, the link created by Partition Wizard to the space on the other partition is not being recognized... 

    There is little doubt in my mind that is the reason Acronis runs out of space when you think it shouldn't be... It is making an image to what it considers a MBR drive, and simply will not skip over the partition... In my opinion anyway... 

    I would either leave #1 and #2 alone, or delete them and make a small 1TB partition...

    It won't be of a lot of use, but it may not be anyway... 

    The only other option would be to copy the 88GB Image twice, and completely reformat the external drive as one partition... That seems like too much work for 1TB, not counting possible corruption in the copying process...

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-22T19:35:13+00:00

    Well, I've been dealing with you long enough to know you are certainly not in the mood today. :) OK. And all this info can be overwhelming. Still, all I did was answer the questions you asked to give the information you wanted. :)

    And, I have been saying now that the main thing I see left to do is to kill out all the migrated files, and then just deal with the last partition. #3. You're talking now as if I were saying something different. :) OK, I understand.

    The only issue now is the unknown -- and with that, I can't know that even after eliminating everything but that partition and with only the 8.1 image on it that Acronis won't still misread it, if misreading is what it is doing. On the other hand, maybe Acronis is failing to compress even though it says it is. One of those seems to have to be the case if Acronis is insisting that 72 GB Image is more than 99.5 GB of empty space.

    BTW, it is not thinking it is out of space when finishing #3. It continues on to do #4 and just before finishing that it runs out of space, seems to get most of the way through #4 then quit. I never touched #4, but maybe Partition Wizard did behind the scenes.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2016-02-22T18:58:33+00:00

    Hi,

    The bottom line is that Acronis thinks it is running out of room when it completes the #3 partition on the internal drive... I've provided you all the possibilities I can think of.

    You are determined that you are going to force a process to something that it is not going to do... and that's not going to happen...

    You in your mind you have determined how you think something should work, doesn't mean it will, and means absolutely nothing to the process...

    You are determined you are going to have three copies of stuff that is or probably no benefit to keep anyway...

    On a HDD that is being stretched far beyond it's intended function... And for some reason this is not sinking in...

    I am obviously wasting my breath and time trying to explain this...

    Do whatever you want... I'm outta here...

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments