Team Foundation Server 2008 Adventures

I’m playing with the Team Foundation Server 2008 these days. After I mastered the installation process, time has come to play around with security settings, group memberships and things like that.The first real issue I came across was having a problem with adding a Windows Group to TFS Licensed Users group. This is done through Team->Team Foundation Server Settings -> Group Memberships. The error message I got was very uninspiring and unhelpful.

At the same time I could add single users from the same group without any problems. So my next step was to try to add every user from the group individually one by one. This way, after adding five users, I got the more helpful error message

Aha! There is an error code this time. Now I can find out why. Turns out that the 5 user limitation is specific to the TFS – Workgroup edition. Ok, I do not even know for sure what is the edition I have installed and it does not say on the Help->About.

This page comes very handy

Which Version of Team Foundation Server Do I Have?

So, I check the value of the registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\TeamFoundation\Registration\Edition_CT And it is ‘Workgroup’ indeed. Confirmed!

Now I need to upgrade to the Standard Edition. I have the key, but when I go to Add and Remove programs, run Change/Remove and select the option to Upgrade, the boxes where I’m supposed to enter the license key are grayed out! I’m stuck!

Luckily, I find some help.

Upgrading TFS 2008 Workgroup to Std. Edition

Here is what the wise guys from Microsoft advise:

1. Find a Setup.sdb file at the folder

\Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server\Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server - ENU\

2. Open the Setup.sdb file with text editor; you can back up the file before editing it.

3. Remove the “[Product Key]” line and the PID line after it in the file.

Try to upgrade again.

And this works. I re-check the registry key value and, indeed, it has changed to “Full” which means Standard Edition. Hooray! However, when I try to add a 6th user to the TFS Licensed users, I still come up with the same error. Now I consider reinstalling from scratch! Next, I come across this discussion.

Upgrading from limited version

And the last bit of advice seems to be my case

“If you are using the full RTM version (not the workgroup version) do not use the Licensed Users Group. It is not used by the full version but is still limited to 5 users. Just add the users to the project groups.”

And it works too. I can add Windows Users and Groups to project groups.

Finally, a few words about deleting projects.
A simple way to delete the project forever is explained here

Team System Delete Project

“If you need to delete a Team System Project you need to do it through a command line utility that is installed with Team Explorer. There is no way to delete a project from Team System except through the command line tool, TFSDeleteProject.exe. This utility is in the c:\program files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ folder by default. To delete a project, use the following syntax:

TFSDeleteProject /server:ServerName ProjectName”

However, if you are getting the TF30063 error, it might be worth looking at this post, it worked like a charm in my situation:

TF30063: You are not authorized to access...

“Ever try to delete a team project and get the above message? Are you in the Team Foundation Administrators group and scratching your head?”

by Evgeny. Also posted on my website