TFS Build is failing Because of Missing Programs

Question

I am trying to build a project using TFS2010 Build.TFS resides on its own server, and i am trying to build to a directory on the same machine. The Server does not have VS2010 installed on it. When the build runs it fails and gives me this error:

c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets (1558): Task failed because "AxImp.exe" was not found, or the correct Microsoft Windows SDK is not installed. The task is looking for "AxImp.exe" in the "bin" subdirectory beneath the location specified in the InstallationFolder value of the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A. You may be able to solve the problem by doing one of the following: 1) Install the Microsoft Windows SDK. 2) Install Visual Studio 2010. 3) Manually set the above registry key to the correct location. 4) Pass the correct location into the "ToolPath" parameter of the task.

Then I get a whole bunch of errors saying the namespaces of the project I am building cannot be found. I am not sure if that is all linked to the above mentioned error however.

Thank You!

Answer 1

It is recommended to have Visual Studio 2010 installed on your build machine but it is not a requirement. Since the error message indicates that it didn't find AxImp.exe, can you verify if this file exists on the build machine? The location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin (if you're on a 64-bit Windows).

If the file doesn't exist, installing .NET Framework SDK will probably help to resolve that specific error.

Regarding installing Visual Studio on the build machine, Visual Studio is licensed per user, not per machine, so as long as the build machine owner is licensed, you should not need extra license for Visual Studio. But you probably should look at the licensing papers for your edition of Visual Studio 2010 to make sure.

Here's a table in the white paper on licensing: