Solution:

For the agents configured with build account

http-cache: C:\Users\<BUILD ACCOUNT>\AppData\Local\NuGet\v3-cache
packages-cache: C:\Users\<BUILD ACCOUNT>\AppData\Local\NuGet\Cache
global-packages: C:\Users\<BUILD ACCOUNT>\.nuget\packages\
temp: C:\Users\xavier.j\AppData\<BUILD ACCOUNT>\Temp\NuGetScratch

For the agents configured with Network Services account

http-cache: %windir%\ServiceProfiles\AppData\Local\NuGet\v3-cache
packages-cache: %windir%\ServiceProfiles\AppData\Local\NuGet\Cache
global-packages: %windir%\ServiceProfiles\.nuget\packages\
temp: %windir%\ServiceProfiles\AppData\<BUILD ACCOUNT>\Temp\NuGetScratch

Explanation:

You can build the Visual Studio 2012 later versions in TFS 2012 build environment by configurating the 'ToolPath' property in the TFS 2012 build xaml file.

Solution:

Open the TFS 2012 build xaml file with the same Visual Studio version (i.e VS 2012) to edit the 'ToolPath' property as below and save the xaml to build.

Visual Studio 2012 ToolPath

On 32-bit machines : C:\Program Files\MSBuild\12.0\bin
On 64-bit machines : C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\bin

Visual Studio 2015 ToolPath
On 32-bit machines : C:\Program Files\MSBuild\14.0\bin
On 64-bit machines : C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\bin

Exception:

TF400167 : Installation failed for the package (tfs_sharePointExtensionsCoreRes_X64)
with thw follwoing status 0x80070652, restart state 00x0. Error : Installation failed.
Check individual package installation errors for more information. 

Explanation:

The above exception occurred while installing or upgrading the build environment to TFS 2013 update 4. 

Workaround:

Delete the folders and files under "C:\program Data\Package cache" directory and start the install again.

Error Message:

"Connection to the Team Foundation server http://servername:8080/tfs/defaultcollection has been restored." 

Solution:

• Open build notifications options window
• Deselect the build definitions that have been deleted
• Close the options window
• Open build notifications options window again
• Make sure that the deselected build definitions are disappeared from the list of build definition in build notification tool.

Build notification tool does not remove the deleted build definition automatically.

Exception:

Unable to read data from the transport connection: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond

Explanation:

The above exception pops up when doing a Get operation on a specific file in the build environment.

WorkAround:

Perform the following steps on your build agent by opening the Team Explorer\Visual Studio IDE.

Exception:

Exception Message: TF400324: Team Foundation services are not available from the server.

Technical information (for administrator):

  Unable to connect to the remote server (type TeamFoundationServiceUnavailableException)

Exception Data Dictionary: 

AgentExecution = False

Work Around:

Perform the following steps on Build controller & agent

1. Clean user cache

• To clear the TFS client cache, delete all the contents under “C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Team Foundation\”

2. Reboot

Exception:

MSBUILD : error MSB4016: The build stopped unexpectedly because the "WorkflowCentralLogger" logger failed unexpectedly during initialization. TF400324: Team Foundation services are not available from server <TFS Server>.Technical information (for administrator):The proxy name could not be resolved: <Proxy Server>

Work Around:

Perform the following steps on Build controller & agent

1. Clean user cache

• To clear the TFS client cache, delete all the contents under “C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Team Foundation\”

2. Reboot

Explanation:

This feature is not available in TFS 2013.

Solution:

You can set the verbosity in build definition using MSBuild arguments section in process tab

/flp:verbosity="<verbosity>"

Following are the levels of verbosity that can be set for the ms build output:

· Quiet
· Minimal
· Normal
· Detailed
· Diagnostic

Explanation:

Following are the steps to enable trace logs in the build environment

1. On the Build machine (both controller and agent) ,  copy the attached .config file (TFSBuildServiceHost exe.config (2.25 kb)) to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010\Tools.

2. Create a new directory named c:\logs and ensure that the account under which the service Visual Studio Team Foundation Build Service Host has write permission on c:\logs.

3. Restart the build controller/agent service (net stop tfsbuildservicehost & net start tfsbuildservicehost).

4. Trace log will be generated under c:\logs

Steps to enable log in the windows event viewer 

1. On the Build machine, go to Event Viewer and navigate to the following path:

• Application and Services Logs\Microsoft\Team-Foundation-Server\Build-Services.

 2. We want a detailed level tracing:

• Go to the ‘View’ menu and select ‘Show Analytic and Debug Logs’. Once you do that there will be 2 channels available under this event source, Operational and Analytic

** The operational log is always on and provides high-level auditing of failures and events, while the Analytic log is off by default and provides very detailed information about activities in the build machine.

** You can enable the Analytic log, by right click and select Enable Log.

Solution:

You can override the polling interval by modifying the value in the windows registry. 

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\TeamFoundation\Build\BuildNotification\Subscriptions]

(REG_SZ) PollingInterval = "00:02:00"

By default, polling interval is set to "00:02:30" or 2.5 minutes. Modifying this value will result in increased load on your TFS server