Installing VSTS 2010 B1 - Caution

There has been a bit of chatter in some of the lists about how to properly install the Visual Studio Team System 2010 Beta 1 bits.

The installation is now split into two distinct components; installation and configuration. Each of the two components operates separately. This provides a very flexible way of setting up a new server as you can install some of the subordinate components such as SharePoint and Reporting Services after a TFS install because the configuration is handled separately. HOWEVER, in the beta 1 release there is a problem that will be encountered unless you actually run the configuration directly after the installation from within the same process. Buck Hodges has explained it in detail which I copy below.

<Buck Hodges>

Here's a known issue with configuring TFS 2010 Beta 1 that we want to make sure folks avoid. If you follow the default process of configuring the server with the wizard after the MSI setup phase completes, you will not hit this issue.

However, if you choose not to follow the default path of running through the configuration wizard once the MSI setup phase has completed (i.e., if you choose to uncheck the box at the end that says to launch the configuration tool), you will need to run the following command line to avoid corrupting your SharePoint installation (TFS will install SharePoint 3.0 for you, unless you opt out of it).

"%programfiles%\Microsoft team foundation server 10.0\tools\tfsmgmt.exe" configure

You will end up with a corrupt SharePoint installation if you run the TFS configuration wizard from the administration console. You can find more details in the following blog post: TFS 2010 Beta 1: Don’t run initial configuration from the administration console (MMC).

Right now, the easiest workaround if you get into this situation is to uninstall SharePoint and TFS and install TFS again (TFS will then install and configure SharePoint for you). We're looking into whether there is a simpler way to recover.



So heed the advice and have a successful install!