Work offline in Team Foundation Server

Question

Is there a way to set "work offline" in TFS without trying to open the solution, waiting for its timeout, and then if Visual Studio finds out that it failed?

It seems ridiculous that I can’t just mark the box to talk about it myself, because I’m probably the most qualified to know when I'm not in the office!

Answer 1

Ben Ryan has the keys you are looking for on his blog:

• http://blogs.msdn.com/benryan/archive/2007/12/12/when-and-how-does-my-solution-go-offline.aspx
• http://blogs.msdn.com/benryan/archive/2007/12/12/how-to-make-tfs-offline-strictly-solution-based.aspx

Most of these controls are also integrated in the latest Power Tools :

C:\Users\Richard> tfpt tweakui /? tfpt tweakui - Enhance how client connects to Team Foundation Server Allows configuration of how and when the client connects to a Team Foundation Server. This includes client certificates, auto reconnect, offline, compression, maximum connections, timeouts, and bypassing the proxy. 

Answer 2

This extension should solve your problem (for VS 2010):

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/425f09d8-d070-4ab1-84c1-68fa326190f4?SRC=Home

Answer 3

Here is the solution for VS 2008 with TFS

• Go to the menu of Visual Studio ---- File> Source Control> Change Source Control> Click the Solution / Project button> Mark / uncheck the project’s checkboxes> Click the "Unlink" button at the top.

This makes your complete solution or your chosen project an Offline solution from TFS.

• When you want to go to the Internet, follow the same steps and click the "Bind" button

Answer 4

when I have to work offline, I just unplug my Ethernet cable and run TFS 2008. It launches me offline. Then reconnect, right-click “surf the web” in Solution Explorer, and TFS will ask you to check your offline changes.

Answer 5

add host entry 127.0.0.1 tfs.foo.com

Answer 6

Team Foundation Server 2008 supports offline work.

This video demonstrates how to use this feature.

Answer 7

If TFS does not work, there may be a problem with going offline. If you close and reopen your solution, a small small dialog box will appear asking if you want to go offline.

Alternatively, if you do not want to close / reopen the solution, you can install the TFS Go-Offline plugin , then click:

 TEAM -> Go Offline