TF254024 error when upgrading TFS 2010 Beta2 to RC

Whilst upgrading a single server instance of TFS 2010 Beta2 to the RC I got a TF254024 error. This occurred at the point in the upgrade wizard where it tries to list the databases available to upgrade.

The reason for the error was the account I was logged in as (the domain administrator in my case) did not have rights on the SQL instance to see any TFS DBs. Once this was sorted, by granting owner rights to all the TFS DBs, all was OK.

I think it had got into this state as this was a ‘standard’ TFS install using an automatically installed SQLExpress instance; so rights had not been explicitly assigned during the TFS setup. By installing SQL 2008 Management Studio Express and logging in as the servers local administrator I was able to grant the rights needed.