How do I use MSTest without Visual Studio?

Question

Does MSTest have standalone GUI similar to nUnit that lets me use it and run test without visual studio? What is the official site for MSTest where I can learn more about how to use it?

Answer 1

It doesn't have a GUI (apart from Visual Studio) but there's a command line tool: MSTest.exe

Here is the official documentation on running MSTest tests.

Answer 2

MSTest can be used without installing Visual Studio. You will need to install Visual Studio Test Agent, which is a free download from Microsoft.

I think this approach is better from a licensing perspective than manually copying MSTest.exe and its dependencies onto the build server.

See this blog for reference: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/anutthara/archive/2009/12/16/running-tests-in-mstest-without-installing-the-vs-ide.aspx

Answer 3

You can do this with mstest.exe, but the trick is in getting it to work without installing visual studio. This involves the copying of several files and registry entries. I have blogged about it here.

Answer 4

Use Gallio as your test runner... then its not so much of a drama when you enventually drop MsTest and move to a real test framework.

Answer 5

You can also use this tool from codeplex: http://testrunner.codeplex.com...

Answer 6

Use VSTest.console.exe part of Microsoft.TestPlatform

Required steps:

1. Download the test platform from https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.TestPlatform/
2. Unzip
3. In the unzipped folder, copy the \tools\net451\Common7\IDE\Extensions\TestPlatform folder to the machine that has no Visual Studio installed
4. From cmd.exe run VSTest.console.exe MyTest.dll

More details here:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/test/vstest-console-options?view=vs-2017#general-command-line-options