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Walkthrough: Migrating from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation

This walkthrough describes how to migrate from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation using the VSS converter tool, VSSConverter.exe. For information about how to prepare the database for migration, see Walkthrough: Preparing to Migrate from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation. In that walkthrough you will find detailed information about how to prepare a SourceSafe database and user list for migration to Team Foundation and gain a better understanding of how the migration process works.

In this walkthrough, you will accomplish the following tasks:

  • Modify the settings file to specify which folders to migrate.

  • Run the converter to migrate the source from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation and generate a migration report.

Before you try to complete this walkthrough:

  • Perform all steps as outlined in Walkthrough: Preparing to Migrate from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation.

  • Identify empty folders in Team Foundation version control where you want to migrate your Visual SourceSafe folders. If the destination folder does not exist, the converter will create it for you. The only exception is if the destination folder is a team project. The destination folder should be either a valid team project or a subfolder of a valid team project. For more information, see How to: Create a Team Project.

Additionally, you need:

  • A Team Foundation Server name.

  • Install SQL Server Express on the computer where you plan to run the converter.

    By default, SQL Express is installed when you install Microsoft Visual Studio Team System.

    You must have administrative permissions to connect to a SQLExpress database to use the converter tool.

  • Visual SourceSafe 2005 on computer where you run VSSConverter.

Required Permissions

To perform this walkthrough, you must have administrative permissions for the Visual SourceSafe database that you will migrate. For more information, see "How to: Assign Project Rights" at the Microsoft Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=99103). You must also be a member of the sysadmin server role for SQL Express. By default, you are a member of the sysadmin server role if you are a member of the Administrators security group on the computer where SQL Express is installed. For more information, see "sysadmin" from the Microsoft Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=60405) in the SQL Server 2005 documentation.

Before you continue with the actual conversion, customize your settings file to include the destination folders for the SourceSafe projects that you specified when you prepare for conversion. You must complete all the steps as outlined in Walkthrough: Preparing to Migrate from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation to complete this task.

To modify the settings file to create a migration file

  1. Click Start, click Programs, point to Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, point to Visual Studio Tools, and then click Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt.

  2. At the command prompt, type cd %DriveLetter%\VSS2TeamFoundation. This folder was created when you analyzed the Visual SourceSafe database for migration. For more information, see Walkthrough: Preparing to Migrate from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation..

    NoteNote:

    Ensure that the system drive has sufficient space to hold the largest file size under migration.

  3. Save the settings file that you created for the analysis, settings.xml, with a new name, for example, migration_settings.xml.

  4. At the command prompt, type notepad migration_settings.xml, and then press Enter.

    The settings.xml file you created when you analyzed your database for migration is displayed in Notepad.

  5. Change the settings file as follows.

    • In the <ProjectMap> section, for each Visual SourceSafe folder that you are migrating, add the destination folders in Team Foundation version control. Use the following format, adding the Destination section as shown in the following example.

      <Project Source="$/FolderA" Destination="$/Team_Project"></Project>

      To migrate everything in your Visual SourceSafe database, insert the following XML instead.

      <Project Source="$/" Destination="$/Team_Project/"></Project> 
    • Under the <Settings> section, add a <TeamFoundationServer> section, and specify the name, port, and protocol for the Team Foundation Server to which you are migrating. Use the following format.

      <TeamFoundationServer name="TFS_server_name" port="port_number" protocol="http"></TeamFoundationServer>

      For example,

      <TeamFoundationServer name="AdventureWorks" port="8080" protocol="http"></TeamFoundationServer>
      NoteNote:

      If you have a large Visual SourceSafe database, your migration may fail because of the 4-GB limit of SQLExpress. To resolve this, set the converter to use SQLServer instead by adding the following line: <SQL Server="SQL_Server_name"></SQL>

  6. Remove <Output file="Analysis.xml"></Output> from the <Settings> section, or rename the output file to "migration_Analysis.xml".

    Your migration_settings.xml file should resemble the following:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <SourceControlConverter>
          <ConverterSpecificSetting>
                <Source name="VSS">
                      <VSSDatabase name="c:\VSSDatabase"></VSSDatabase>
                      <UserMap name="c:\Migrate\Usermap.xml"></UserMap>
                </Source>
                <ProjectMap>
                      <Project Source="$/FolderA" Destination="$/TeamProjectA"></Project>
                      <Project Source="$/FolderB" Destination ="$/TeamProjectB/ProjectB"></Project>
                </ProjectMap>
          </ConverterSpecificSetting>
          <Settings>
                <TeamFoundationServer name="server_name" port="port_number" protocol="protocol"></TeamFoundationServer>
          </Settings>
    </SourceControlConverter>

    Be sure to substitute your server name for server name and an actual port number for port number.

  7. Save your changes and close Notepad.

To run the converter

  1. Copy your Visual SourceSafe database to a local folder on the computer on which you want to run analysis and migration. Although you can migrate a Visual SourceSafe database in a shared folder on a remote computer, the migration takes much longer to finish.

  2. Click Start, click All Programs, point to Microsoft Visual Studio, point to Visual Studio Tools, and then click Visual Studio Command Prompt.

  3. At the command prompt, type the following.

    VSSConverter Migrate migration_settings.xml

    TipTip:

    Use the /? switch to view the available command-line options.

  4. Type Y to confirm the migration.

    The converter tool displays the migration status. When the conversion process is finished, the tool saves a migration report in the current directory. You can use Internet Explorer to view the file for more information.

  5. When you are prompted, provide the password for the Visual SourceSafe admin user.

    NoteNote:

    VSSConverter does not migrate version control bindings for Visual Studio solutions. You must change these bindings manually. For more information, see How to: Migrate Source Control Bindings from Visual SourceSafe.

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Updated Content for TFS 2010      RobCaron   |   Edit   |   Show History
Visual SourceSafe customers can get Team Foundation Server at upgrade pricing when upgrading, migrating, or converting from VSS to TFS. For more information on how to make the move from VSS to TFS, see http://www.microsoft.com/visualsourcesafe for a white paper from Brian Harry, instructional videos, links to partners who can help, and more.
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Please, Please Update for VS2010 ...      realraven2000   |   Edit   |   Show History
... edit this article and add the fact that in VS2010 you require the attribute "collection" in the TeamFoundationServer tag.

e.g.:
<TeamFoundationServer name="xyz1234ab" collection="tfs/MyDevCollection"  port="8080" protocol="http"></TeamFoundationServer>

that would save us from having to google it after it fails.
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Updated content for Team Foundation Server 2010...      Andy Lewis - MSFT   |   Edit   |   Show History
...including info on the collection attribute, can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms253060.aspx.
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Troubleshooting TF31002 Connection Errors During Migration      Anil Desai   |   Edit   |   Show History
This documentation should include information about the "collection=" optional attribute that can be used in the <TeamFoundationServer> tag. Without this tag, I was receiving authentication errors when trying to connect to TFS 2010 RC, although all other operations appeared to be working. The situation and resolution are defined in the following Microsoft Connect bug:

VSSConverter cannot connect to the Team Foundation Server (https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/500032/vssconverter-cannot-connect-to-the-team-foundation-server?wa=wsignin1.0)


The solution is to add collection="tfs/DefaultCollection" (or to substitute it with a different collection name) to the TeamFoundationServer to specify which collection should be used.


I have also documented this issue on my blog at http://anildesai.net/?p=684.

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Enable 8.3 file name format      Oleg V. Sych   |   Edit   |   Show History
Enable 8.3 file name format before starting the migration. VSSConverter will not report 8.3 names used in file change history during analysis stage and treats them as critical error during migration stage.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951195
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Specifying Sql Server instead of Sql Express      An Phu   |   Edit   |   Show History

Place the <SQL Server="."/> element under the <Source> element.
Make sure named pipe is enabled.
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VSS Converter Issues      beth77   |   Edit   |   Show History

I'm working to find a conversion path from VSS to TFS. I found this documentation to assist, however I'm getting blocked with a VSS 2005 or higher stipulation on the VSS Converter. These instructions state that the VSS database should be 6.0 or later, it is 6.0 as I just created it as a test database. I have VSS 6.0 installed from a Visual Studio 6.0 suite. Even still, I also have MS Visual Studio 2008 installed on my system in another directory. My understanding is that VSS is now contained within the Team Studio releases. Does anyone know what is causing the issue here?

Thank you - Beth

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Is there a way to make this tool work to convert TFS 2005 to TFS 2008?      Latture   |   Edit   |   Show History

We decided to not do an in-place upgrade, so the old server is running TFS 2005 and the new one TFS 2008. I'm looking for a quick way to migrate the content.

vssconverter worked well for moving vss to tfs, but the solutions i've found for this issue are to install 2005 on the new server then do an in-place upgrade to 2008.

Any one know of a better way?

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Too complex to convert      Leneise44   |   Edit   |   Show History
Why is this a command line tool. Is Microsoft turning back the clock of progress? Seems someone could have quickly and easily built a little interface for this and saved a lot of errors and confusion.
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