Extract VMs from Deployed SCVMM Service

Q: I have a System Center Virtual Machine Manager service deployed that's comprised of many virtual machines. I want to detach the virtual machines from the service. How can I do this?

A: System Center Virtual Machine Manager supports service templates, which allows you to deploy multi-tiered services as a single action. If you deploy an instance of a service template and want to keep the virtual machines but remote the actual service, there isn't a supported method to do so. The only method I've found is to remove the Hyper-V host from System Center Virtual Machine Manager management, then bring the host back into System Center Virtual Machine Manager management. When the host returns, the service deployment has been removed but the virtual machines remain.