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Getting rid of snapman.sys

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I am trying to clear my computer of everything related to Acronis so that I can install a new OS. I find there is somewhere in the registry and entry called snapman.sys. How do I get rid of that piece?

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You didn't mention what version of Acronis software was previously installed on your system. Snapman has been put in the registry in different ways over the years. The following is general and should cover everything you need to remove. You may not see snapman at all the loctions mentioned.

First you should determine if the snapman service has been left running on your system. Open a command prompt as administrator and enter the folloing line:

net start snapman

Look at the message that is returned. If it says the service has already been started, be very careful with removing it. A mistake can render your system unbootable. If it says the service name is invalid, you don't need to be as careful.

To remove snapman open regedit and proceed as follows:

1. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\snapman and delete the snapman key on the left side.

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} and look for snapman on the right side under UpperFilters and LowerFilters. Note the values at these locations. You only want to remove snapman. Make sure you leave any other names. Write down the filter names before you attempt to remove snapman in case you make a mistake. Removing filters other than snapman will cause problems. You may not even see snapman at these locations.

3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71a27cdd-812a-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f} and remove snapman from UpperFilter and LowerFilters as needed. As in 2. above be careful not to remove any filters other than snapman.

You may now remove snapman.sys from C:\Windows\System32.

If you do make a mistake and end up with a BSOD on boot, don't worry. It can be fixed! Just make sure you have written down all the Upper and Lower Filter names at both registry locations so they can be added back if removed by mistake.