Enabling logging on MSTest.exe

Many times you might need to enable verbose logging on MSTest.exe to debug the Test related issue on the build machine.

Here are the steps

Step 1: Find the MSTest.exe.config file on the build machine. It can be found at the following location
<Drive:>\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE

Step 2: Make a backup copy of MSTest.exe.config file

Step 3: Add the following <system.diagnostics> in the MSTest.exe.config file
<system.diagnostics>
    <trace autoflush="true" indentsize="4">
      <listeners>
        <add name="EqtListener" type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener" initializeData="C:\Temp\MSTestTrace.log" />
      </listeners>
    </trace>
    <switches>
      <add name="EqtTraceLevel" value="Verbose" />
    </switches>
  </system.diagnostics>

Step 4: Here is the sample updated file.

<?xml version ="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
    <supportedRuntime version="v4.0"/>
  </startup>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <probing privatePath="PrivateAssemblies;PublicAssemblies;PrivateAssemblies\DataCollectors;PrivateAssemblies\DataCollectors\x86"/>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral"/>
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="10.1.0.0" newVersion="10.0.0.0"/>
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.Tips.UnitTest.Adapter" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral"/>
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="10.1.0.0" newVersion="10.0.0.0"/>
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.Tips.UnitTest.ObjectModel" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral"/>
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="10.1.0.0" newVersion="10.0.0.0"/>
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.Tips.UnitTest.Tip" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral"/>
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="10.1.0.0" newVersion="10.0.0.0"/>
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
<system.diagnostics>
    <trace autoflush="true" indentsize="4">
      <listeners>
        <add name="EqtListener" type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener" initializeData="C:\Temp\MSTestTrace.log" />
      </listeners>
    </trace>
    <switches>
      <add name="EqtTraceLevel" value="Verbose" />
    </switches>
  </system.diagnostics>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="GetCollectorDataTimeout" value="300"/>
    <add key="TestProjectRetargetTo35Allowed" value="true" />
  </appSettings>
</configuration>

Step 5: Restart the “Visual Studio Team Foundation Build Service Host” service on build machine. The next build would log the detail.