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We are setting up a Team City build server. On previous VS 2008 projects a full version of Visual Studio has been installed on the build server.

We are now starting a VS 2010 project.

Is it possible to run MSTest tests on the Team City build server without installing Visual Studio?

Shiraz Bhaiji
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  • possible duplicate of [How to use MsTest in Continous Integration without VS?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/954943/how-to-use-mstest-in-continous-integration-without-vs) – Ruben Bartelink Aug 03 '11 at 22:54
  • It is somehow possible even though quite cumbersome. Have a look at [this article](http://www.shunra.com/shunrablog/index.php/2009/04/23/running-mstest-without-visual-studio/) – Joachim Rohde Aug 03 '11 at 13:17
  • You sure that's for 2010? – Ruben Bartelink Aug 03 '11 at 22:55
  • No, I'm not 100 % sure. But I needed to set up a CI-Server last week and had exactly the same problem that we couldn't execute MSTest tests. And after an extensive search I came to the conclusion that it's not possible without VS being installed. I also couldn't find any MSTest standalone-installer like it was announced, on the microsoft site. – Joachim Rohde Aug 04 '11 at 09:56
  • Thanks for clarifying - seemed you were recommending executing such config butchery! I route around such madness by switching to a real test framework – Ruben Bartelink Aug 04 '11 at 19:59
  • Are you insane? :-p No, I was not recommending this way. Sorry if it sounded like that. We also started migrating to mbUnit last week after we couldn't find a way to get MSTest to work without VS. – Joachim Rohde Aug 05 '11 at 08:56
  • All agreed; bottom line is porting away from MSTest is worth the effort. (though I'd be arguing xUnit - way too much cruft on NUnit/MBUnit). – Ruben Bartelink Aug 08 '11 at 16:16

1 Answers1

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  1. Download the Visual Studio Agents 2010 ISO: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=1334
  2. Mount/Extract the files and copy them to the agent server
  3. Run AutoRun and select to install Microsoft Visual Studio Test Agent 2010
  4. Install using the default settings
  5. Cancel out of the "configuration" dialog (you don't need the actual Agent running, just the installed libraries)

Your MSTest build step should run just fine now.

Kcoder
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    Thank you. I feel like I dodged a bullet here. I've just downloaded Agents for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 and installed it on our TeamCity server. Automated unit tests are now up and running without Visual Studio itself, or the horrible sounding manual setup business. – Michael12345 Jan 03 '14 at 01:40
  • I have a similar question. Are you saying that via a build step in TC, each build agent can instruct a remote VM to carry out coded UI tests? That's what I an trying to do but kinda clueless about it atm. The thing I find confusing is that when I launch the test agent on my remote VM, its states no associated test controller. Is TC supposed to be the TestController or ... – IbrarMumtaz 6 mins ago – IbrarMumtaz Sep 10 '14 at 10:26
  • As one way, would be use a batch script that runs mstest locally on the VM in question, in that case the local VS installation should be the TestController - i think? If so, how I get the test controller details? – IbrarMumtaz Sep 10 '14 at 10:27
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    Yeah, I just have a build step in TC that runs MSTest as my runner type. I had to install the the agents above on the build box in order to get the Build Agent to actually run the tests. – Kcoder Sep 10 '14 at 20:19
  • Also I had to restart my TC Server/Agent. But this step works! – user1726190 Feb 22 '16 at 16:33