How to remove Remote Installation Services and Single Instance Storage

This article describes how to remove Remote Installation Services (RIS) and Single Instance Storage (SIS). This article also describes how to back up and restore data in its native format from a SIS volume to a non-SIS volume.

Remove RIS and SIS

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To restore the files and folders in a SIS volume and uninstall RIS and the SIS filter:

1. Remove RIS by using the Add/Remove Programs tool in Control Panel.
2. To view protected operating system files before you continue, follow these steps:
   1. Double-click My Computer.
   2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
   3. Click the View tab.
   4. Click to clear the Hide protected operating system files check box.
   5. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm your choice.
      
      NOTE: Because protected operating system files have both the system and hidden attributes, you must click the Show hidden files and folders option to view these files and folders.
   6. Click OK.
3. Restart the computer in normal mode, and map a network drive to the root of the RIS Volume.
4. Start Ntbackup.exe.
5. On the Mapped Drive letter to the RIS Volume that you just created and on which your RemoteInstall folder is located, select the files and folders in the RIS volume that you want to back up. This should include the RemoteInstall folder and any other folders off of the root of the RIS volume that you want to back up.
   
   NOTE: Do not select the SIS Common Store folder. Exclude this folder from your backup before you start the backup process.
   
   By mapping a network drive to the RIS Volume and backing up the contents of that Mapped drive to the RIS Volume, the redirector forces the files to be extracted from the RIS Volume during the backup operation.
   
   The steps in this article force the files and folders to be extracted from the SIS Common Store database and backed up in their native format. For more information about the SIS Common Store, see the "References" section of this article.
6. After Ntbackup is complete, review the backup logs to make sure that no errors occurred and that the data and sif files (Sif files are located in your RemoteInstall\Setup\English\Images\ImageDirectoryName\i386\Templates directory) are properly backed up, and then disable the SIS filter in the registry:
   1. Start Registry Editor.
   2. Locate and click the Start value in the following registry key:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SIS
   3. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
   4. Type 4, and then click OK.
   5. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.
7. Using Disk Administrator, delete the partition that contains the RIS/SIS volume and SIS Common Store database.
   
   WARNING: If the RIS/SIS volume that contains the SIS Common Store database is deleted before you make sure that all data on the SIS volume is properly backed up, this may result in data loss. Review the backup logs to make sure that there were no errors and that the backup process was completed successfully.
8. Re-create and format a new partition.
9. Start Ntbackup, and then restore the files and folders to the new volume.

For more information about SIS and the Groveler service, how they work with files in Windows 2000 and the .NET Framwork, and the recommended practices in manipulating these files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: