Self-hosted Azure DevOps build agent on Windows

OS: Windows Server 2019

Build agent installation path: D:\Agent

The idea is to have a build agent with as few installations as possible. Instead using tool tasks like Use .NET Core in the pipelines.

Agent

Prepare your Azure DevOps on-premises environment with the latest agents: https://hanskindberg.wordpress.com/articles/azure-devops/azure-pipelines-agent/update-agents-for-azure-devops-on-premises/

Build Tools for Visual Studio

To be able to build .NET Framework applications I think we need the build tools. The Build Tools versions follow the Visual Studio versions. Download at https://my.visualstudio.com.

I tried with Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022 first but then the VSBuild@1 task was not supported:

• [error]No agent found in pool Windows which satisfies the following demand: visualstudio. All demands: msbuild, visualstudio, Agent.Version -gtVersion 2.194.0

Probably because the solution I tried to build was created with 2019. I do not know.

So instead I installed Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019.

I had to reconfigure the agent after the installation of the Build Tools.

In my case:

D:\Agent>config remove

and then config again:

D:\Agent>config

Information:

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/agents/v2-windows/#remove-and-re-configure-an-agent

Python

To use the Npm@1 task we need Python 2. To use the UsePythonVersion@0 task we need to have the Python files.

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/tool/use-python-version/#how-can-i-configure-a-self-hosted-agent-to-use-this-task

Download a Python installation:

• https://www.python.org/downloads/

To avoid “shiting” the build agent with a Python-installation I created a Windows Server 2019 Datacenter in Azure and installed with the following command:

C:\Users\MyUserName\Downloads>python-3.10.0-amd64.exe /quiet Include_launcher=0 InstallAllUsers=0 TargetDir=D:\Agent\_work\_tool\Python\3.10.0\x64

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60936103/install-python-to-self-hosted-windows-build-agent#answer-66768677
• https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html#installing-without-ui

Then I zipped the Python-directory and copied it to my local machine. Then I unzipped and copied the Python-directory to the build agent:

• Destination: D:\Agent\_work\_tool

Then I created an empty text-file and named it “x64.complete” here:

• D:\Agent\_work\_tool\Python\3.10.0\x64.complete

Then I did the same with Python 2:

• https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.17/python-2.7.17.amd64.msi

C:\Users\MyUserName\Downloads>python-2.7.17.amd64.msi /quiet Include_launcher=0 InstallAllUsers=0 TargetDir=D:\Agent_work_tool\Python\2.7.17\x64