Visual Studio 2013 Application Lifecycle Management Virtual Machine and Hands-on-Labs / Demo Scripts

Article
08/02/2013

September 19, 2014 Update: The VM and corresponding hands-on-lab / demo scripts were updated to Visual Studio 2013 Update 3. This includes several fit and finish releases across the hands-on-lab /demo scripts in addition to several improvements in the underlying virtual machine itself (including an upgrade to Windows Server 2012 R2). A detailed changelog is available.

The Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 ALM Virtual Machine is available for download along with 25 hands-on-labs / demo scripts which introduce you to many of the ALM capabilities which have been included in this release.

You can download and install Visual Studio 2013 (including Team Foundation Server 2013, .NET Framework 4.5.1, etc.). But if you would like a faster way to understand what is new for application lifecycle management in this release, this virtual machine is pre-configured with all of the necessary software and sample data for you.

Some important notes about this virtual machine:

This is a Hyper-V virtual machine and works with Windows Server 2008 x64, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows 8 (with SLAT-capable processors), Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. The import procedure for this virtual machine is slightly different than for previous versions. Please read the “Working with…” document for detailed instructions.
Windows is configured to set the system clock to July 9, 2013 every time you start this virtual machine. This is to support the project management hands-on-lab. If you want to work with this virtual machine beyond the specific hands-on-labs scenarios, you may need to disable the Set Date and Time task (Task Scheduler -> Task Scheduler Library -> Set Date and Time -> Right-Click -> Disable).

This virtual machine is configured with:

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Evaluation
Microsoft Visual Studio Ultimate 2013 Update 3
Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2013 Update 3
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook)
Microsoft Visio Professional 2013
Microsoft Release Management for Visual Studio 2013 Update 3
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard
Sample users and data required to support hands-on-lab scripts which accompany this download and exercise 24 ALM scenarios.

There are 25 hands-on-labs for you to take a scripted approach towards learning this content. These labs double as demo scripts in case you want to show off these features to others.

New features in Visual Studio 2013:

Labs upgraded from Visual Studio 2010/2012:

Finally, if you want to use this virtual machine with Visual Studio Online, this simple document will detail the special steps necessary to put the virtual machine online:

Connecting to Visual Studio Online Using the Visual Studio 2013 ALM Virtual Machine NEW

If you are looking for even more hands-on-labs and demo scripts, be sure to check out our other ALM virtual machines at https://aka.ms/ALMVMs.

Links to the files above are included in the download set below, so you don’t have to follow the individual links above if you plan on batch downloading all of the files in this set.

Downloading the virtual machine and labs:
I suggest using a download manager for these files since they are very large. My download manager of choice is Free Download Manager. You can use your own favorite download manager, but you may need to adapt the instructions below as appropriate.

I hope you will enjoy this content as a way of learning how Visual Studio can help you improve your team’s overall application lifecycle management capabilities. If you have suggestions for how to improve this virtual machine and set of demos / hands-on-labs please let me know. Remember to check out our previous ALM virtual machines at https://aka.ms/ALMVMs to learn about other ways in which Microsoft is delivering tooling for application lifecycle management.

Comments

Anonymous
August 08, 2013
Any chance that this image could be added to the Windows Azure gallery? It's a great resource I use often for demos/experimentation, but laptops can only do so much!
Anonymous
August 11, 2013
Hi Brian, Thanks for a nice VPC! When I do a TFS build with InRelease deployment I get a timeout after 10 minutes, if I change the timeout to 30 minutes I get the same timeout. The step that is pending is “Remove Web sites”. Any suggestions? /Magnus
Anonymous
August 13, 2013
Hi Magnus, Can you confirm whether or not you have configured a network adapter in your virtual machine prior to starting a build? There are instructions in the "Working with..." document related to this.
Anonymous
August 13, 2013
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
August 16, 2013
I was wondering when / if you will be releasing the VM with a Windows 8/Server 2012 OS installed? I am trying to convince my management team that we need to move to 8/2012 to get the best experience for TFS 2013 and if I use this training VM in our organization we'll continue to stay on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for the foreseeable future.
Anonymous
August 16, 2013
@David, This virtual machine uses Windows Server 2012. You can find the list of installed software at the top of this blog post.
Anonymous
August 18, 2013
Hi Brian, It seems I am experiencing the same problem as Magnus. I am also stuck on the "Remove Websites" step and the build times out after 10 min or 30 min depending on what I set the timeout to. I have checked the network adapter configuration and made sure it is set to "Internal Network", the only difference is that I'm using VirtualBox instead of Hyper V, but will that make such a big difference? All the other features seem to be working fine?
Anonymous
August 19, 2013
Steviedm777, could you please try: ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew Then start the workflow over again and see if that improves anything?
Anonymous
August 19, 2013
Hi Brian, The "ipconfig /renew" command gave an error saying the network adaptor is not available. But I went back to my VirtualBox settings and changed the network type back to NAT, which seems to solve the problem. So I am not sure what is going wrong with the "Internal Network" type, but at least I can continue now.
Anonymous
August 25, 2013
Hi Brian, Is it possible to deploy the Tailspin Toys website on the new vm? I wanted to try some of the old labs but found that tailspin toys was missing and not acessible through the browser, or do I need to download one of the old vm's to do this?
Anonymous
August 26, 2013
Peter, No, it's not as simple as just deploying Tailspin to use those other labs. There is a lot more work involved to get it staged and make sure things like test cases are accessible. We plan to bring over Tailspin in a future rev of the 2013 VM but for now to access those older labs please download the 2012 RTM VM: http://aka.ms/ALMVMs. Brian
Anonymous
August 27, 2013
Hi Brian, I have the same problem as Magnus and Steviedm777. I use Windows 8.1 with Hyper-V. I activated the license and then changed the network interface in settings of the VM to internal. Should there be a checkbox selected by the internal settings in Hyper-V? I also get a time out when building the build definition. If I try to release the ip as you suggested I get the following error: An error occured while releasing interface Ethernet 5 : An address has not yet been associated with the network endpoint. Switching back to external doesn't fix the problem for me. Do you have any idea? Ralph Jansen
Anonymous
August 27, 2013
Hi Ralph, Sorry that you're seeing this problem. We're actively investigating this but we don't have an answer yet. It seems to be rooted somewhere in the virtual networking stack but we haven't figured out where. This might also be a product issue with the version of InRelease tasks we're using. We have an open inquiry to some of their developers right now. I'll post to the blog when I learn more.
Anonymous
August 27, 2013
Thanks. I will wait for your reply. I will only navigate threw the solution and not give a live presentation for the management for now.
Anonymous
August 27, 2013
Hi Brian, I'm with Preston on this one: make the VM available as a template in the Azure gallery! Good to hear that you guys are working on it already, please let us know when it is ready :-) Good work!
Anonymous
August 28, 2013
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
Formeroosid, please read the "Working with..." document. It contains details about using Windows Server 2008 R2. Please note the Windows Server 2008 (without R2) is not supported.
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
If you are talking about the following passage: b. If you are going to import to a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, move the VHD file from the WMIv2Virtual Hard Disks folder to the WMIv1Virtual Hard Disks folder. I have moved the file as instructed... ========================= D:TFS_2013Visual Studio 2013 PreviewWMIv1Virtual Hard Disks>dir Volume in drive D is WEBAPP Volume Serial Number is 7407-213D Directory of D:TFS_2013Visual Studio 2013 PreviewWMIv1Virtual Hard Disks 08/28/2013 04:24 PM <DIR> . 08/28/2013 04:24 PM <DIR> .. 07/31/2013 05:04 PM 56,908,317,184 TD02WS12SFx64.vhd 1 File(s) 56,908,317,184 bytes 2 Dir(s) 14,846,021,632 bytes free ========================== Thanks
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
Formeroosid, are you using 2008 R2?
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
Yes... C:Usersjamie.gordon>systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version" OS Name: Microsoftr Windows Serverr 2008 Standard OS Version: 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
Formeroosid, that's not R2. R2 has an OS version of 6.1.
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
That's it then. Thanks.
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
I'll try manually uploading the VHD to Azure, but, in the absence of an Azure Image, could you please provide instructions on how to import and use the VHD in Azure?
Anonymous
August 29, 2013
John, In essence what you're going to do is upload the VHD file as a disk (not as an image) to Windows Azure. These instructions are a close proxy for what you'll do: www.windowsazure.com/.../upload-a-vhd You do not need to sysprep the disk, and in the last step instead of creating from an image you'll want to create from a disk. When I get some time I'll type up better instructions with screenshots but for now this will get you started. Be sure to take the time to change all of the passwords in the VM and you may need to update service accounts as well or disable RDP access for users you won't use. Brian
Anonymous
September 04, 2013
To everyone who encountered problems with the InRelease hands-on-lab, please download the updated lab document included in the list of downloads on this blog post. This includes a workaround for the problem. Thanks and apologies to everybody who encountered this issue. Since it was only occurring in some environments it was difficult to troubleshoot, and I appreciate all of the extra bug reports from folks which helped us pin down this issue. This bug will be fixed for the InRelease RTM later this year. Brian
Anonymous
September 04, 2013
Hi Brian, Thanks for the update! I will try the fix soon. For the fix, we don't have to download the whole package again right (no software changes)? Only the new Hand on Lab document is needed to work around the bug? Thanks Ralph
Anonymous
September 05, 2013
Ralph, you can just download that one lab document and run the fix.
Anonymous
September 11, 2013
Brian, I download your and attracting it. I use "Working with ..." document to import the VM however I got the following error while importing it in Window 8. "Hyper-V encountered an error while loading the virtual machine configuration from "D:VMs....1FE8.." Deleting "Visual Studio 2013 Preview" failed. The operation cannot be performed while the object is in its current state.
Anonymous
September 11, 2013
Gary, was there more to the error message? Usually it will say that it failed to import and then supply a longer reason why. I'm also not sure what your message related to the deletion is referring to - is that the same operation or are you attempting to perform a different action when you get that message? If this is a separate delete operation, what is the Status of the VM when you are attempting to delete it?
Anonymous
September 11, 2013
Brian, That's the only error I got and I make sure to change writable to all files. Anyway, I could create a new VM using your virtual disk. it's started and I could activate it. Is that good enough to run your lab or it have to use your setting file? Thx
Anonymous
September 11, 2013
The comment has been removed
Anonymous
September 17, 2013
Hi Brian, is it possible to update the vm to the Release Candidate version of 2013? Or is this not possible with some limmitations with the vm's like the date reset? Or are there things to think about before upgrading? Thanks!
Anonymous
September 17, 2013
Hi Ralph, It should be possible but I'm afraid I don't have time to provide any guidance or support for this exercise. My next focus will be the RTM VM.
Anonymous
September 17, 2013
I understand that You won't give support. But maybe there was something why the update to RC couldn't be done. But now I know it could be done, I maybe give it a try. Practice is always good. Thanks
Anonymous
September 20, 2013
Hello Brian, I go through all the comments, thank you so much for the great answers! I just have a question, you mention that you plan to include the Tailspin Toys website, is this will be with the RTM? I also had a problem because the machine name is the same name with the TFS 2012 VM so I got conflict, sometimes I need both machine on so my suggestion is to consider a new machine name if you still support the old one. Thanks, Much appreciated!
Anonymous
September 21, 2013
Radwan, I can't say for certain yet when we'll bring forward the Tailspin Toys website and corresponding labs. It may not make it in time for RTM, we may need to ship a refresh post-RTM. Can you help me understand the problem with having the machine names the same? I understand that technically there will be a conflict but I'm not sure what scenario this would be breaking for you. Keeping the machine names the same makes it easier to update labs and other content when we carry those artifacts forward onto the latest version.
Anonymous
September 23, 2013
Brian, thanks for your reply! Yes you are right about the update, my problem is not so big important, thanks Brian!
Anonymous
August 01, 2016
Could you correct your links before archives? It is not working :(
- Anonymous
  August 01, 2016
  It works on my machine. Which link(s) in particular are broken for you?

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Visual Studio 2013 Application Lifecycle Management Virtual Machine and Hands-on-Labs / Demo Scripts

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