Overall I’ve had good first impressions of Team Foundation Server, which I installed and configured for a client. We installed TFS Workgroup Edition to get started and later wanted to upgrade to the full version, which the client acquired through volume licensing. Upgrading from Workgroup (or Trial) Edition to the full version using a volume license key (VLK) is far from well-documented. Here’s the steps:

  1. Find your license key by browsing your TFS (VLK) install media for the file DVD-ROM:\\atdt\setup.sdb and open it in Notepad. Go to the bottom of the file (or search for [Product Key].
  2. On the TFS box*, start Add/Remove Programs.
  3. Change/Remove Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server.
  4. Select update product key and enter the product key you found in step 1. You’ll have to type it in manually or copy/paste in groups of 5 characters.
  5. Click OK and TFS should restart. You are now running the full version of TFS.

You can optionally remove users from the [SERVER]\Team Foundation Licensed Users group as this group is only used in Workgroup mode. I recommend removing everyone from this group as it will reduce future confusion if you ever have to troubleshoot authorization issues with TFS.

* Repeat these steps on both application and data tier boxes if you have a multi-server installation.