How to: Configure an Interactive Port for Team Foundation Build

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You can specify an interactive port on the build computer that can be used by a build agent. An interactive port allows you to interact with Windows user interface elements such as Windows Forms.

Required Permissions

To complete this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the build computer. Additionally, the service account that runs the TfsBUildService.exe must be a member of the Build Services group. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

To enable the interactive port

  1. Log on to the build computer where Team Foundation Build is installed.

  2. On the build computer, click Start, click Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

  3. On the Services (Local) pane, right-click Visual Studio Team Foundation Build and click Properties.

  4. To stop the Team Build Service, on the Visual Studio Team Foundation Build Properties (Local Computer) dialog box, click Stop under the Service Status.

  5. Locate the TfsBuildService.exe.config in <root>:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies, right-click the file, and click Open on the drop-down menu.

    The file opens in Visual Studio XML editor.

  6. Edit the InteractivePort and set it to the desired numerical value.

    For example, 9192. For more information, see How to: Modify Settings in TfsBuildService.exe.config file.

  7. Save your changes and close the file.

  8. From the Command Prompt, run wcfhttpconfig reserve <user account> <port number> to place the new port in the access control list (ACL).

    For more information, see wcfhttpconfig (Team Foundation Build).

  9. After the port is added to the ACL, add it to the Windows Firewall exceptions list.

  10. To restart the Build Service, click Start, click Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

  11. On the Services (Local) pane, right-click Visual Studio Team Foundation Build and click Properties.

  12. To start the Team Build Service, on the Visual Studio Team Foundation Build Properties (Local Computer) dialog box, click Start under the Service Status.

    You can now associate the new port with a build agent. For more information, see How to: Create and Manage Build Agents.

To run TfsBuildservice configured to the interactive port

  1. On to the build computer, click Start, and then click Run.

    The Run dialog box appears.

  2. On the Run dialog box, type cmd.exe in the Open text box, and then click OK.

  3. At the Command Prompt, type cd <root>:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies to locate the TfsBuildService.exe.

  4. To start the service running, type TfsBuildService.exe at the Command Prompt.

    The TfsBuildService must be running in order for a build definition to access the interactive port.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Set up and Install Team Foundation Build

How to: Create a Build Definition

Concepts

TfsBuildService.exe.config File Settings in Team Foundation Server Components