I just upgraded our trial version of TFS to the full version and wanted to pass on some notes about the exercise.

Upgrading is pretty simple: Click Change/Remove on the entry for TFS in Add/Remove Programs on the TFS server, then enter the permanent license key in the dialog box that appears.

Our TFS license was purchased through a volume license agreement, so we had no nice box with the 25-character license key on it. Instead, per the instructions elsewhere on the MSDN site, I called Microsoft Customer Support to obtain a key.

The MS support rep needed the TFS Product ID in order to generate a license key. Unfortunately, neither of us could find the darn thing; after 5 minutes of searching every Help | About box we could think of, the rep took pity and generated a key based on an educated guess.

The key she provided worked, but not before one other surprise: after entering the key, IIS was restarted without any warning. It was no big deal for us, but I can imagine that for others this could be more than an annoyance.

If, indeed, the TFS Product ID is needed for this procedure, it would be nice if

• the customer support rep knew how to find it,
• the ID appeared on the Change/Remove dialog where the license key gets entered, and/or
• the TFS document that instructs volume license customers to call customer service explained where to find the ID.

If someone knows where to find this ID, perhaps they'd post a reply explaining how to do it.

I just found a quicker way and you don't have to contact Microsoft!

It was on a blog by Rob Caron and I will quote it with updates since my DVD had different folder names.  Here is the original BLOG post: http://blogs.msdn.com/robcaron/archive/2006/02/09/529033.aspx

Here is the content, but with updates:

Upgrading from Visual Studio Team Suite Trial Edition

In a previous post (Upgrading from Team Suite Trial Edition, Beta 3 Refresh) I wrote about the upgrade experience when you install Visual Studio Team Suite on top of Visual Studio Team Suite Trial Edition. For retail customers, it?? a simple matter of entering the product key (PID) that accompanies their licensed software. However, for Volume Licensing (VL) customers the PID is already baked into the setup process. As result, VL customers who are upgrading from Visual Studio Team Suite Trial Edition to the VL licensed version are prompted for a key they don?? readily have. The workaround is to either (1) uninstall Team Suite Trial Edition, or (2) obtain the product key from the [Product Key] section of setup.sdb (scroll all the way to the bottom of this text file), which is located at \TFC\setup.sdb on the DVD.

Update - The same applies for those who obtained Team Suite licensed product through their MSDN subscription.

I'd seen that blog post, but Rob Caron's solution works only if you have the TFS DVD. We bought our permanent TFS license without media, since the downloadable trial version is full-featured. (Yes, our IT department pinches pennies.)

So it still comes down to "What (or where) is the Product ID?" Perhaps that file in the \TFC directory of the trial version has the product ID, but that's not where I'd normally go looking for it. I'd still end up on the phone with Microsoft, unless the downloadable trial version also has the permanent license key!

Good Call Rich, I checked the file \tfc\setup.sdb in the 180-day trial edition folder and found a Product ID. Not sure if it is the one they will be looking for, but might help in the search for a volume license product key while talking to Microsoft.

Jeff

I have the Office Student and Teacher Edition Trial. Is there any cost involved in upgrading to the full version? May be a stupid question, (although Mr. Garrison says there are "no stupid questions, only stupid people"), but I'm weary of searching the boards for an answer. Your help will be much appreciated.