visual-studio-2017build-toolsbuild-server

VisualStudio Build Tools 2017 offline installer


I generate an an offline installer for the build tools like this: vs_BuildTools.exe --layout c:\VS_BuildTools2017_offline --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.MSBuildTools --add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.VCTools --lang en-US

I move this folder to a build agent (which has no internet connection, and no, it will never have one!), and then execute the vs_BuildTools.exe in that folder even with --noWeb or --noweb, but no matter what option I give, it will always fail with no internet connection available. Surely I am missing something, so any hints on what are appreciated


Solution

  • I also had problems with this.

    One important step is to install the certificates before running the installer on the target machine:

    Answer was originally posted here.

    In addition I also noticed that when running the installer on the offline machine it has by default selected some more items than what was downloaded. I had to deselect them to only install the build tools, not the SDK and so on...

    But still the install failed, I am currently seeing "An installation file did not download" so I have still not managed to complete the whole install. It's microsoft.visualstudio.vc.msbuild.arm64.vsix maybe it's included in some other component that have to be --added.

    Update: Nevermind, my last problem was due to not using --noweb, with it there were no errors.