Create a shallow clone.
Option Explicit Option Strict Imports System Imports System.IO Imports System.Xml Public Class Sample Public Shared Sub Main() 'Create the XmlDocument. Dim doc As New XmlDocument() doc.LoadXml("<book genre='Computer' ISBN='1-111111-57-5'>" & _ "<title>C#</title>" & _ "</book>") Dim shallow As XmlDocument = CType(doc.CloneNode(False), XmlDocument) Console.WriteLine(shallow.Name + shallow.OuterXml) Console.WriteLine(shallow.ChildNodes.Count) End Sub End Class