Running non headless automated tests in TFS 2017

Question

I have several automated tests that are associated to test cases in TFS 2017. These tests are running through as part of a functional tests step as a part of our build and they're running fine and I can see them running on the test machines. The physical browsers are there and navigating.

I'm attempting to run automated tests through TFS test hub using the new 2.* version build agents. This will allow us to run individual tests or tests plans. However, I can't figure out a way to run tests on these agents where they're not running headless. They run headless fine, but I need to be able to see them run.

I read somewhere in Microsoft documentation that the agent must run as interactive instead of a service for UI tests. However that means the agent is running as a version 1.* which is not supported by the TFS test hub test runs.

Does anyone know a way to use the test hub to run test on physical browsers instead of headless?

Answer 1

The new agent 2.0 can also be configured to run in interactive mode, please see Deploy an agent on Windows for details.

Just for your information: If you are running UI tests such as CodeUI or Selenium on physical browsers such as IE, Firefox, or Chrome, the agent on the machines must be running in interactive mode and not as a service.

If you are running UI tests such as coded UI or Selenium tests, the agent on the test machines must be running in interactive mode, not as a service, to allow the agent to launch a web browser. If you are using a headless browser such as PhantomJS, the agent can be run as a service or in interactive mode. See Build and Release Agents, Deploy an agent on Windows, and Agent pools and queues.

Please see Run automated tests from test plans in the Test hub for details.