Willy-Peter Schaub's Cave of Chamomile Simplicity

TFS - undoing a checkout of another user ...

A common query we get is how we can undo a checkout for another user, either because the user has left the company, lost their machine and workspace or has simply gone on a vacation. In the following snapshot we can see that MTUNET\willyp has checked out the AssemblyInfo.cs file ... has gone on holiday and is therefore creating a bit of tension in the force. Microsoft reports the common scenarios as:

• Undo a pending change because I need to check-in and someone has it exclusively checked out
• Undo the checkout lock on the file and not the actual change itself
• Undo all the changes in a workspace because the person has left the company or the group

• To list the workspaces for the doomed user, execute the following command:
  tf workspaces /owner:MTUNET\willyp /computer:*
  ... which gives us the following:
  
• To undo the checkouts on the AssemblyInfo.cs file you can run:
  tf undo /workspace:NEPTUNE_TEST;MTUNET\willyp "$/ATC_EcoSystem/ATF/ATF 1.1b 2003/Source Code/Automated Test Framework/Copy of ATFCoreAgent/AssemblyInfo.cs"
  ... which results in:
  
• Alternatively if the resource is gone for definite, you can delete the workspaces which will also undo any pending changes using the following command:
• tf workspace /delete NEPTUNE_TEST;MTUNET\willyp /s:http://TFSTEST:8080
  and
  tf workspace /delete NEPTUNE;MTUNET\willyp /s:http://TFSTEST:8080
  

If we look at the TFVC repository, we get the following updated view: