Tfs work items cannot be changed after renaming a user in Active Directory

Question

TFS stores information about who created or activated the work item, and for some reason checks its validity whenever the work item is modified.

When a user is removed from the active directory or renamed to the active directory, all work items, even slightly related to the user, cannot be changed. Usually an error message is something like ... TF20015: the Activated field contains a value of blah blah blah, which is not on the list of supported values.

I found a blogpost that recommends setting up a TFS database, which is not supported or recommended by Microsoft.

What can be done to solve this problem?

Thanks...

e-MRE

Answer 1

Caution: I'm not sure if this will work, and right now I can’t check it. However, I have had success with this approach in some other areas.

If you use the TFS Power Tools to edit the definition of a work item type, you should be able to change the rules of the Activated field and add the ALLOWEXISTINGVALUE rule to it. This may allow you to save these entries when changing the AD name.

We used this with some success in the Assigned To field.

Answer 2

I have seen this behavior. This happens if someone who activates the work item is removed from Active Directory (leaves the company), or if they change their name (get married).

Just fix, you just need to change the status of the work item from Active to Pending , and then return to Active , this will change the "Activated" field to the person who will monitor the status, and the problem will be resolved.

Are you using TFS 2008? It seems I remember that this problem was fixed in 2010 (but maybe I dreamed about it)

If you have many work items, this blog may have a solution to help automate the fix.