VM Prep Tool for Visual Studio Lab Management 2010 RC is now available

We are happy to announce the availability of an updated version of VM Prep Tool for Visual Studio Lab Management 2010 RC. You can download it from https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/vslabmgmt

To enable testing, build-deploy-test workflow and network isolation capabilities on the Lab Environments, you need to install Visual Studio Test Agent, Visual Studio Lab Agent and Team Foundation Build Agent on VMs and templates that are part of the Lab Environments.

VM Prep Tool automates the process of upgrading/installing Test, Build, and Lab Agents on a virtual machine and configuring them. It also provides support for automating the process of creating templates with agents installed on them. The tool has been enhanced for the RC release of Visual Studio Lab Management 2010 with additional features. The tool now operates in the following two modes:

Self Service Mode: This mode should be used by owners/users of Lab Environments to quickly install/upgrade agents on VMs that are part of their Lab Environment. They will need to login to the VM as an administrator and run this tool on the VM to start off the installation process.

Admin Mode: This mode should be used by and Lab Administrators who are in charge of creating/upgrading templates with pre-installed agents. This mode requires the tool to be run from a machine with SCVMM Administration console installed and requires the user to be an SCVMM Delegated Administrator.

The tool now supports upgrading agents on the Virtual Machines from Beta2 version to RC. Note that after the upgrade the Test Agent, by default, will be configured to run as a service under Network Service account and the Build Agent, by default, will be configured to run as Local System. To run CodedUI Tests on your lab environment, the Test Agent will need to be configured to run as a process. After the agent installation completes, please launch Visual Studio Test Agent Configuration Tool to configure these settings manually.

We are in the process of enhancing the tool and fixing issues so we will appreciate your feedback on the tool.

Abhishek Agrawal

Visual Studio Lab Management team