Connecting to TFS 2010 with Visual Studio 2008

I got error TF31002 when trying to connect to TFS 2010 with Visual Studio 2008:

TF31002 The Team Foundation Server name, port number or protocol is incorrect The Team Foundation server is offline Password is expired or incorrect.

The basic problem is that in Team Explorer, before Visual Studio Service Pack 1, you can’t enter a valid URL in the Add Team Foundation Server dialog, only a server name or IP address. Unfortunately TFS 2010 changed the URL of the server to this format: http://<servername>:<port>/tfs/, adding a virtual directory that TFS 2008 does not have. Pre sp1 this syntax is not allowed in the dialog box. Just putting in the server name produces the above error, which, in the irritating way that error messages work, is completely correct since the services can’t be found because they now reside in a virtual directory.

To get Visual Studio 2008 to connect to Team Foundation Server 2010, there are definitely some steps you need to follow. I found a bunch of mostly correct information, but nothing exactly right (beta and RC were widely available) so I figured I’d post it here.

To begin with, you need to install the following, in this order to Visual Studio 2008:

  1. Team Explorer for TFS
  2. Visual Studio 2008 sp1
  3. Visual Studio Team System 2008 Service Pack 1 Forward Compatibility Update for Team Foundation Server 2010

If you already installed Service Pack 1 and need install Team Explorer, you will need to re-apply the service pack.

Enter the URL like this:

http://<servername>:<port>/tfs/

Add a TFS Server

Now you should be good to connect to the server.