OK, I’ve run into this one with Microsoft’s TFS server a few times so i thought I would talk about it to help me remember it.  MS has come a long way with their version control software, with TFS light years ahead of some of the old versions of Visual Source Safe, but there are always “duh” moments that a co-worker helped me to remember today.

At my job we use a single TFS server and have instances that are created for various groups in the company.  If you want access to another instance you open a ticket with the IT folks to give you permission to get at it.  There are 2 types of access, read only, and an “Advanced” developer mode that gives you the keys to the candy store.

After my request for total control of the TFS repository was completed, I went into Team Explorer and then into Source Control and saw the new instance ready to go.  I wanted to create a directory and start adding some code to the repository but noticed that by right clicking “New Folder” was grayed out.  All I saw was “Refresh” and “Add items to Folder”.  My security request had surely been mishandled I thought (or less likely I had asked for the wrong access 😉 ).  I opened another ticket and got – “You already have “Advanced” stupid”.

Well, a few minutes scratching my head had me stumped and wondering what to do.  I checked with the owner of the repository and he said I should be good to go as long as I have advanced.  Oh, and have it mapped correctly.  Mapping!!!  This is the key!  Just because the repository is shown in your Source Control Explorer, until you have it mapped you might as well only have read access.  So I right click on the instance, choose “Map to Local Folder” and enter the path that I want to map it to and POW! – we have liftoff!  I now have a correctly mapped folder that I can create folders and add content to my hearts content.  On to the coding!