TFS Integration Tools – Why would I get the “TFSIP Worker Process Group” message?

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One of our Visual Studio ALM Rangers asked the following question today:

“Why would I get the “TFSIP Worker Process Group” message when I am an Admin on the box and on TFS and the account that TFSIP is running under is also an Admin on the box.”
TFSIP_Member_error

Firstly, what is the TFSIP Worker Process Group?

  • TFSIP Worker Process Group is a local group created by the TFS Integration Tools setup and assigned as the default login account of the migration and job service.
  • Setup creates a local group (WPG), adds the user running setup and the service account into that group and then grants it permission to write into the working directory and wherever we create log files. The test used at runtime to decide whether to show the warning below is simply based on group membership, not whether the person running the tool happens to have the same (or greater) rights.

So, why am I getting this error?

  • You will likely get this error if the user running the tool differs from the user who installed the TFS Integration Tools.
  • You may get this error is credentials or group membership are modified after the TFS Integration Tools setup.

What happens if I select No?

  • An admin can say Yes or No to the prompt and things should still work – they will just be prompted again if they say No.

A special thanks to Terry, Bill E. and Bill B. from the product team for jumping in and gathering the information.