TFS 2012 Build “Access to Path Denied”

As others mentioned, this happens when performing multithreaded builds with a common destination directory and the file copy task happens to encounter a simultaneous conflict with a copy task running for a different project. Normally this should result in a “file used by another process” exception (which is handled and retried by the file copy … Read more

How to undo another user’s checkout in TFS via the GUI?

Out of the box, no, but there are at least a couple of options via add-ons. TFS Power Tools TFS Power Tools (Visual Studio 2010) TFS Power Tools (Visual Studio 2012) TFS Power Tools (Visual Studio 2013) TFS Power Tools (Visual Studio 2015) Once installed: Open Source Control Explorer Right-click the item on which checkout … Read more

Delete Local Folder in TFS

This is an older post, but since the only given answer seems “not entirely correct” to me I’d like to answer anyway: I blogged about this (in german) here: blog.nils-andresen.de If you have a local copy, that you want to un-get or un-download like this: simply right-click the folder and then click “Get Specific Version” … Read more

What is Shelving in TFS?

Shelving has many uses. The main ones are: Context Switching: Saving the work on your current task so you can switch to another high priority task. Say you’re working on a new feature, minding your own business, when your boss runs in and says “Ahhh! Bug Bug Bug!” and you have to drop your current … Read more

How to get the variable value in TFS/AzureDevOps from Build to Release Pipeline?

The is no official way to pass variables from Build to Release. The only way to accomplish this is to store the values in a file (json, xml, yaml, what have you) and attach that as a Build Artifact. That way you can read the file in the release and set the variable again. Martin … Read more

C# 6.0 TFS Builds

For the compilation step, you have a couple of options: You can reference the Microsoft.Net.Compilers NuGet package on a per-project basis to use that version of the compilers. You can install the Microsoft Build Tools package that is part of the VS 2015 CTP package without installing all of VS. However, as @MrHinsh notes, these … Read more

What’s the best way to get TFS to output each project to its own directory?

I just blogged another method here: http://mikehadlow.blogspot.com/2009/06/tfs-build-publishedwebsites-for-exe-and.html but if you can’t be bothered to follow the link, here it is in full: It’s generally good practice to collect all the code under your team’s control in a single uber-solution as described in this Patterns and Practices PDF, Team Development with TFS Guide. If you then … Read more