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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,
I don't mean to be rude, but I'm afraid there is no other way to say this...
A very large part of the problems you are having are due to operator error...
Not Windows, and Not Acronis.
You have repeatedly stated that you tried to do something in Windows the it is done on a mac... That doesn't work, and it has caused a lot of problems...
There is no such thing as a Magic Bullet Utility that can make everything like new, unless you consider reinstalling Windows and your programs as Utilities...
The simple fact is, that the only way to fix some types of problems is to reinstall...
Why else would you suppose that Gateway would even include a partition on your machine to do specifically that, if it were never necessary ?
The stuff you Migrated is JUNK... You are wasting your time as well as mine continually messing with it... It is corrupt, therefore worthless...
I don't remember exactly when you made the Acronis 8.1 Image, but at this point, it is the best you have, unless you Restore to Factory...
You would be better off trying to fix the problem with the internal drive, and save a new image, than spend one more second messing with the one you Migrated...
I suggested that you do a Repair Installation of Office to try and fix the corruption...
That is precisely the reason a Repair Installation exists...
If that is too much trouble, then Restore the Acronis Image, or the Gateway Recovery...
Another thing I think you should do to make your backup images more reliable...
Recover your Acronis Image to the internal drive... or the Gateway...
Copy your existing Acronis image to the internal drive, and delete every bit of the garbage on the external drive, and forget about Migrating and maybe being able to boot from the external drive... Your stuff is too obsolete to do that...
Put the external drive back to a MBR drive, and save your images to it...
You have spent more time arguing with me than it would have taken to start over... Virtually every suggestion I have made has turned into a week long debate...
That is a entire week that could have been used for something much better...
Personally, I don't give a rats **** what you do about going back to a mac...
I couldn't care less if you tossed your gateway under the wheels of a Bus...
I'm willing to try and help you, but it requires that you permit me to do that...
With every one of these ideas you are coming up with, you are just digging a deeper hole...
Feel free to try something from Norton... They have saved my butt before, but I have no current knowledge... But then, if you can afford to purchase something by Norton, you could have purchased a larger, more modern HDD, and probably have avoided 90% of the problems that have arisen because you didn't...
That is not the fault of Windows, or Acronis...
I never did a restore that failed. All restores went fine.
And the corruption is something we just learned about. I'm not even sure it is real corruption, just a couple corrupt files that don't necessarily make any difference directly, but might be interfering if they are sending out some wrong messages. I'm not sure the OS itself is corrupt. At any rate, it seems it was even when Win 8.1.
So, to use the 8.1 image means to go back to where I am. The migrated files certainly have the same corruption, and the image has the same as the migrated files -- in fact, the image is identified as corrupt. I keep mentioning, the corruption was brought over from Win 8.1, it didn't just happen, it is in the migrated files too. When I fix it on the internal, I will know what the external needs to fix it there.
Once a corruption is fixed, nothing is compromised.
The issue now is to find whatever corruption or other is throwing Acronis about space. It might even be that Acronis has a problem in it, and we are falsely blaming the OS. Acronis is the only thing that has not worked fine with this OS.
All these other issues were an endless list of different things -- every last inch of the way, anew problem at every inch -- Windows sucks. Mac has problems, but nothing like this Windows ****. It will only happen again, an endless list of different issues every inch of the way-- that seems to be all Windows does. I have heard this for many years, and now I am experiencing exactly what I have heard so many times about Windows.
I'm going to look for Norton tomorrow -- I need a utility that addresses these things, not the terribly limited stuff in the OS. A proper utility should be able to fix this stuff in a single pass, and everything then be like new, or better than new.
I can guarantee you one thing: If it comes to erasing and going with the Win 8.1 beginning, I abandon Windows instead. Windows has already proven it is only going to have issues at every inch of the way anyhow.
Hi,
You just made my point for me... You have spent months already dealing with stuff that is corrupt... You even did a Restore that failed, but somehow recovered...
In the amount of time you are dealing with this mess, you could already be done starting over fresh... And no matter what you do from this point forward, you will be dealing with a compromised system...
I guess if everything works to your satisfaction, that is OK, but is not a ideal setup...
Every recovery image you have made could be corrupt... That is the problem with starting a project like this with a system that is not fresh...
A Repair install of Office would specifically address Corrupt and Missing Files, while retaining all of your preferences... That is specifically stated when you get to that screen... If you have updated Office, you may need to reinstall the Updates...
BTW... I just ran DeFraggler again with some setting changes... It defragged more of the smaller files and cleaned things up a little better, but I still have 22% fragmentation... Probably 20% of that is a large 12GB file that is in two fragments...
If you want to keep trying to salvage the situation, that is OK with me, But I'm beginning to think that is a waste of time... All of the backup you were counting on seems as though it may be corrupt, so what good is it...
If you don't want to go completely back to factory, maybe you should consider putting that Acronis Win 8.1 Image to the test... I don't think it is possible to determine if there is any corruption on it until it is restored...
It is working drastically different for you than it did for me. Each of four tires made things worse. And one partition I didn't even touch no longer appears in the Windows OS list.
Defraggler seemed to do its full run, not stop short.
BTW, I turned off Fast Startup. The machine seems to start just as fast anyway.
Yes, we want to address the corrupt files. The six identified are all on the main partition -- going from what it on the external drive, which is what was tested. A seventh on on the main drive is the Win 8,.1 image, which would have the corrupt files in it so gets identified as corrupt.
Using Gateway Win 8.1 media to restore to factory (yes, I have the Gateway 8.1 install media) means starting from the beginning with a blank drive. It would take me no less than a full month, maybe more, to get everything back in order again and get the applications again. That can be done, but it is a massive, ungodly amount of effort. I've done that over the years, I know how massive it is -- and I don't want to do that, I might as well be in prison. We're not talking simply of the OS. And I can't put in a full month on this -- I've already put in 8-9 months, this has to end, or the computer/Windows ends.
