Team Foundation Server "Build Controller"

Question

We are in the process of trying to automate our build process. We use Visual Studio 2010 and the source control server - Team Foundation Server 2008 - is on a different machine.

When I right-click on a Team Project's Builds item and select New Build Definition, I get a message:

TF225001: Creating a build definition requires a build controller be defined for this team project collection. There may not be any controllers configured or you may not have permissions to view them. Contact your Team Foundation Server administrator.

Where is this build controller and how can I create one for my Team Project?

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 24 '11 at 22:12

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Just in case anyone is still reading this, the problem is Visual Studio 2010. Whilst all of the versions of TFS and VS are broadly compatible (Source Control, work items etc) the one thing that has changed significantly between the 3 versions of TFS is Team Build.

If you need to manage builds with TFS 2008, you really need to use Team Explorer 2008.

answered Feb 24 '11 at 22:12

James Reed

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Maybe this used to be the case, but the real issue to this day is literally the absence of a build controller; see @Paul's answer – Riegardt Steyn Jul 30 '14 at 13:14
@Heliac Build controllers don't exist in TFS 2008. For TFS versions later than 2008 then Pauls answer is valid and correct. However this question is specifically about TFS 2008 with Visual studio 2010 (see the tags) – James Reed Aug 05 '14 at 09:11

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered May 06 '11 at 21:22

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In case this issue still hasn't been solved.

I had this issue but fixed it by remoting into my TFS server, pulling up the Team Foundation Administrator Console and at the bottom on the left hand navigation it says, "Build Configuration". If you click on "Build Configuration" you'll see a link on the right that says "Configure Installed Features".

This will give you a wizard to configure the build service.

Hope this helps someone!

Paul

answered May 06 '11 at 21:22

Paul

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I have VS2010 and TFS2010 and this fixed me. – Matt Oct 03 '12 at 20:27
The same applies to TFS2012 – Riegardt Steyn Jul 30 '14 at 13:13

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 23 '10 at 08:45

On the TFS 2008 installation disk you should see an option for installing Team Build. The TFS Installation guide will give you the exact steps to take.

You might also want to look at this MSDN Magazine article on Team Build for screen shots and more information.

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 24 '11 at 21:55

For what its worth, I had this same problem connecting to a TFS 2008 project from VS2010 and trying to create a new Build definition. This was an existing VS2008 project we were upgrading to use in VS2010. Ultimately I was able to get around the error by creating the Build Definition in VS2008 with controllers, etc... and then I could edit it successfully in VS2010.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 23 '10 at 09:48

In the TFS Administration Console, go to Build Configuration, and create a new Controller (and probably a new Agent).

You can create a Build definition in your project in VS or Team Explorer, point to a project to build, select a workspace etc.

Think of the build controller as the scheduler, and the agent as the thing that does the actual work, you can have several agents (if you want) that perform builds, and can be configured separately (if desired).

Personally we have one agent, since most builds only take a few minutes we've not had any issues, you can check the build backlog from VS/Team Explorer and play around with the options as desired!

Team Foundation Server "Build Controller"

5 Answers5