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

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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
    2016-03-01T23:52:53+00:00

    Hi,

    I was thinking that if you did the ChkDsk the way you just did, that you might get different results... Especially the error warning you mentioned...

    When I did it a couple of days ago it also said it wasn't necessary, but actually found errors after it ran...

    The Fast Startup is a combination Shutdown and Hibernation... That's how it starts faster... it keeps the drivers and stuff loaded...

    But that can also cause problems if you shutdown your machine, and then unhook a drive... It can cause corruption on the drive.. If you are not hooking up drives , and unhooking them a lot, no problem...

    Another reason I mentioned turning it off is because it can create more free space on your internal drive...

    Once you are done with your imaging and stuff, you can leave it on... Just remember to unhook any external drives before doing a Shutdown...

    Let me know how things go...

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-01T20:39:59+00:00

    Just now getting back to this. Just starting. Just a little update  so  far -- no need to respond yet, I will give a fuller update later.

    Starting  with  chkdsk. Running it from that window you said -- same one  I had used before -- didn't realize that was doing thee same as the chkdsk I ran out of Command Prompt. I clicked on Check button.

    It gave the same message I had before that I don't need to scan, all is fine. But it gives me the choice  to click on scan anyway. I did.

    Said it would take 19 minutes. 

    I looked back a little while later, no more than 10 minutes into it, and it was in the middle of a restart, with the message that the "PC ran into a problem and needs to restart."

    Gee. So it did.

    I then went to the same window to start the scan again. But  this time, for the first time, it did not tell me I don't need to. And now I had two choices, not just one. The new choice was to not only scan, but  to scan and repair! Of course, I selected that one.

    It has to do that during a restart, so it just restarted, and its going to run for sometime. 

    It  ran while I was writing this. Unfortunately, because  my back was to it and I did't realize it was finishing, I did not see if it gave any message about repairs. 

    I am now running the scan once more just to check. If all is clear, I will then run sfc /scannow.

    I don't know why it originally, and previously, told  me don't need to  scan, all is fine -- when clearly it was not. 

    Hopefully this is fixing something of that corruption.  And hopefully if so, that will allow me to next run the Optimization, which I will do before trying that CD. 

    Went through all your posts about all this before starting -- just  in case -- so I have that  all  written down to follow in order. So, after this chkdsk and then the Optimization, will will run sfc /scannow.

    Thanks. Will let you know later the results.

    I still don't understand what Fast Startup is. You told me to turn it off. If it is so important, why would I  want to turn it off? That doesn't seem logical.

    Yes, I still have that Win 8.1 recovery flash drive I made. Was planning to change it over to put the Win 10 recovery on that, eliminating my Win 8.1 one. I figure I have the Win 8.1 CD, so can boot that and  run repairs from that anyway.  And if I should  go back to  Win 8.1, I can always make  that recovery again easily enough.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-29T01:24:24+00:00

    Hi,

    There has to be a chip in it somewhere... IDE won't connect to USB without one...

    I will also look to see what I can find about converter cables...

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-02-29T01:19:14+00:00

    Just to note I'm seeing you're sending -- I'm completely snowed under here all weekend, don't expect to come up for  air until at least tomorrow afternoon.

    But this is an interesting idea.  Don't know that answer, would take some research. I'm not actually even using an enclosure, it is simply an IDE plug to USB plug, a simple converter cable, no adapter, no  circuit board. Its made to be easy  to  take on the road with you for a backup drive.

    I'm aware of Macs before a certain year could not handle hard drives of more than 125 GB internally, only if external via Firewire. (This drive is external,  for what  that's worth). You're  talking of something similar here. But in the Mac case, clearly it was the  internal circuitry that was the issue.  Like I said, this external hookup has no circuitry, just the IDE plug on the one  end -- unless there is some very tiny amount of circuitry in that  but of plug, but I don't think so.  

    I haven't even had a chance to look at the other messages you have sent since yesterday. Will have to look them all over after I get caught up.

    The corruption and fragmentation is still first, want that done regardless. Then back to space, hope it just works then, but  if not, back to that.

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