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I am trying to move a folder in TFS 2010. After coming to grips with the fact that TFS can't do this without losing the folder's history (see this question and users' responses to Microsoft), I tried the following TF.EXE command:

tf rename Apps "Test Main\Apps"

But I get an error message.

TF10169: Unsupported pending change attempted on team project folder $/Apps. Use the Project Creation Wizard in Team Explorer to create a project or the Team Project deletion tool to delete one.

The Apps folder does not appear to have any pending changes but I tried some other folders for good measure and got the same result.

I do not want to create or delete any Team projects. What am I missing?

Jonathan Wood
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1 Answers1

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$/Apps is not a folder, it is the root of a team project. Think of it as "C:\". You can create folders underneath it, but it's a special entity with its own set of rules.

So, what does this mean for what you're trying to do? It looks like your goal is to rename the team project. Unfortunately, TFS 2010 does not support renaming team projects, although TFS 2015 and beyond do.

If you want to rename the "Apps" team project, you will have to upgrade to a modern version of TFS, but at a minimum TFS 2015.

Otherwise, you will have to manually create a new team project with your desired name and check in the source code. You won't be able to move it from within the source control explorer.

However, keep in mind that there is more to a team project than just source code -- any work items or build definitions will not transfer to the new team project, and there is not a mechanism for moving them.

So, your options are:

  1. Live with the name
  2. Upgrade to TFS 2015 or beyond (ideally the most recent version, of course)
  3. Create a new team project
Daniel Mann
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  • Thanks. My company has old VB6 code that needs to be compiled on Windows XP, so upgrading is not an option. I'm not familiar with *work items* or *build definitions*. Can you provide a link to help me better understand what they entail? – Jonathan Wood Sep 11 '18 at 21:00
  • Also, I'm moving them into a subfolder so that I can branch that subfolder for each version in the future. If I moved these folders into a *Version500* folder, for example, do they need to still be projects or can they just be folders? (In most cases, they do represent a different VB project.) – Jonathan Wood Sep 11 '18 at 21:02
  • @JonathanWood Your TFS version is totally unrelated to the requirements of the source code stored in it. You can absolutely upgrade. As for folders: Yes, everything has to be in a team project. However, you can create folders underneath your team project's TFVC repo root. – Daniel Mann Sep 11 '18 at 21:05
  • Well, I don't think newer versions of Visual Studio Source Code Explorer would run on XP. At any rate, is it necessary for each VB6 DLL project to be in a TFS project? Or can they just be subfolders like *$/Main/Apps*, *$Version500/Apps*, *$/Version600/Apps*, etc. – Jonathan Wood Sep 11 '18 at 21:11
  • @JonathanWood A team project represents a *portfolio of related applications*. In general, guidance suggests that you should maintain a single team project. However, you still seem to be misunderstanding something, because each of those examples you provided would be a **different** team project. `$/`is the root of your TFS collection. `$/Main` would be a team project. `$/Version500` would be a team project. And so on. You should have one team project (`$/Apps`), and then create subfolders underneath that root. (`$/Apps/Application1`, `$/Apps/Application2`, etc). – Daniel Mann Sep 11 '18 at 21:20
  • I'm sorry for extending this but I'm new to FTS (not to programming). Currently, we have about three dozen folders of VB6 projects (which appear to be team projects). Apps is just one of them. But I want to move them all into a subfolder that I can then branch for each version. How would you structure that? Would you make *Main*, *Version100*, *Version200* team projects? – Jonathan Wood Sep 11 '18 at 21:23
  • @JonathanWood https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/repos/tfvc/branching-strategies-with-tfvc?view=vsts – Daniel Mann Sep 11 '18 at 21:24
  • BTW, the *Release Isolation* explained at that link is exactly what I was describing. My approach is sound. I was just trying to better understand when you can create a team project and when you can create a plain folder. – Jonathan Wood Sep 12 '18 at 03:34