how to open Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2008

Question

I have VS2008 Professional Edition with SP1 installed on my machine. Currently we use Visual Source Safe for version controller but we want to change it with Team Foundation Server 2010/2012. So i need to connect TFS with VS2008.
I read some post on the net and they say there is Team Explorer on Tools/Connect to Team Foundation Server to connect to TFS. This should already be installed with VS2008 SP1 but i dont see anything about Team Explorer in my VS2008 menus.
How can i open Team Explorer in my VS2008 to connect to TFS that we are planning to install? Or how can i verify that Team Explerer is installed on my machine?

Answer 1

First check if Team Explorer is installed:

1. Open Visual Studio
2. Open Menu Help
3. Open "About Microsoft Visual Studio"
4. Check for entry like Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Explorer Version 9.0.30729.4413
5. If not, install Team Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=16338 and (re-)install VS SP1 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10986

If this is installed, check if you selected TFS as Version Control system:

1. Open Visual Studio
2. Open Menu Tools
3. Open "Options ..."
4. Go to "Source Control" -> "Plug-In selection"
5. Choose Team Foundation Server

Now you should be able to use Team Explorer. To do this:

1. Open Menu View
2. Choose "Team Explorer"
3. Connect to you TFS

Depending on the TFS version you use, it might be necessary to have a compatibility pack installed (for TFS2010 and TFS2012).

TFS2010: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10834

TFS2012: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29983

An overview of exactly which set of Service Packs and Compatibility packs to install for each combination of TFS, Visual Studio and Windows can be found in this blog post.