Where is Team Explorer?

In recent discussions it has become clear that some people have transitioned straight from Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 to Visual Studio 2005 RTM products, but have been caught unaware of an important change that occurred in the interim.

Starting with the July CTP release, Team Explorer (or as it was previously known – Team Foundation Client, which is the client component of Team Foundation Server that provides access to Team Foundation Server functionality) is no longer ‘built-in’ to team editions of Visual Studio 2005. Shortly after Beta 2, it was starting to become apparent that Team Foundation Server would not ship at the same time as the Whidbey wave of Visual Studio products.

To ensure that the bundle of bits that we did ship at Whidbey RTM was of release quality, the decision was taken to remove Team Explorer and provide it solely as a separate install; however, Team Explorer still integrates seamlessly into Visual Studio 2005 when installed on the same computer.

Thus, those who are installing team editions of Visual Studio 2005 for the first time since Beta 2 are sometimes puzzled by the absence of Team Foundation Server connectivity, and sometimes go as far as uninstalling and reinstalling the product in search of the “Connect to Team Foundation Server” feature.

Just understand that Team Explorer is a separate install that is obtained from the Team Foundation Server installation media. It’s accessible from the Team Foundation Server setup launcher, or directly from setup.exe in the \tfc folder (which may be renamed for RTM) of the aforementioned installation media.