TFS Integration Tools - Issue: unable to find a unique local path

When you are doing a Source Control migration using the TFS Integration Platform you receive a “unable to find a unique local path” runtime conflict.

Figure: You get a “MigrationException: unable to find a unique local path”

At this point the migration fails and you are unable to continue.

Applies to

• TFS Integration Tools, version 2.2, March 2012
• TFS Team Explorer [All Versions]

Finding

In order for the TFS Integration Platform to minimise the likelihood of hitting the 258 character limit of Windows it shortens the mapped path.

Figure: Shortened Local Folders

This works only when there are enough characters after the last “” to be able to get a distinct path. If there are no enough characters then a Local path is unable to be mapped and the exception results.

Workarounds

The duplicates tend to come from multiple applications being stored under a single Team Project and all being mapped at once. If you chop your list of migrations down to a smaller list you are less likely to get duplicates.

Figure: Bad example, chance of collision is very high

Reduce the number of mappings by grouping them. You still want to include all of the things within a branch structure together, but make sure that you have distinct names.

Originally published at Where Technology Meets Teamwork by Martin Hinshelwood , Senior ALM Consultant. (source )