Cannot gain access to files after removing Remote Storage service (235071)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

This article was previously published under Q235071

SYMPTOMS

When you remove the Remote Storage Service (RSS) from your computer, you cannot gain access to files that are on a RSS managed volume even if the file resides locally.

You may receive an error message when you try to open a file.

RESOLUTION

To gain access to the file, reinstall the RSS service. To remove the Reparse point, you may do either of the following:
  • Copy the data to a different volume.
  • Use the Remote Storage Snap-in to un-manage the volume before you remove the RSS service. This gives you a choice to either recall all data from storage and remove the reparse points on the files or to abandon the data. If you abandon the data, you can only restore it using Ntbackup.exe

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

This behavior occurs when you migrate a file to local storage, and then recall it from off-line storage. If you do not migrate the file to off-line storage, the file is not affected. This issue occurs when the RSS service fails to start or you remove it improperly from the computer. When you uninstall the service, you are warned that the files in off-line storage are no longer accessible.

When RSS moves a file to off-line storage, it creates a Reparse point where the file data was located that identifies its location in storage. When you recall a file, the reparse point remains on the file. Any I/O on the file requires the use of a filter in RSS to indentify the file. This filter is called Rsfilter and does not run after you remove or stop the service.

When you view the attributes of the file using the Rsdir.exe tool, the file has the status of Pre-migrated and an attribute of 'P' which equates to 'Reparse points.' Non-HSM files do not have this problem.


Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/9/2004
Keywords:kbenv kbprb KB235071