Using VSS 2005 with Visual Studio 2012
It's easy to integrate Visual SourceSafe into Visual Studio 2012
Visual Studio 2012, launched on 15th Aug 2012, is a terrific IDE. While most of its documentation includes references to using Team Foundation Server (TFS) integration as the source control, it remains very easy to use VSS 2005 instead, by using the VSS plug-in to get a seamless experience. This is extremely useful to those of us who have, for years, been using Visual SourceSafe 2005 with Visual Studio 2010, are happy to be in the comfort zone, and find it simpler to stick to VSS until absolutely forced to move.
Steps to follow:
A. Select VSS as the plug-in:
Make sure the VSS 2005 client is installed on your machine. If you have been using it with your VS2010 installation, then it's already there.
In VS2012, go to TOOLS > Options
The Options window will come up. In this window, expand "Source Control" on the left pane, and click on "Plug-in Selection". You should see the following choices in the dropdown (which may vary depending on what other source control plugins you have available on your machine): None, Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (Internet)
Select Microsoft Visual SourceSafe from the dropdown
(Do not click the OK button at this stage)
B. Next, adjust the VSS environment settings, if necessary:
Under Source Control in the left pane, click on "Environment"
Make sure that "Visual SourceSafe" shows in the dropdown selection in the right pane, then look through all the settings to make sure they are as desired. For most cases, the defaults should be fine.
(Do not click OK even now!)
C. Finally, make sure the VSS-specific settings are correct:
Under Source Control in the left pane, click on "Plug-in Settings"
Make sure the VSS login id is correct
Click on the "Advanced..." button, and examine each tab of the resulting "SourceSafe Options" window to make sure everything is as expected. Click OK in that window once you're done.
Click OK in the "Options" window, to save your selection.
Specifying VSS 2005 as your source control for VS 2012 is now complete. You should now be able to right-click on any solution in the Solution Explorer, and select "Add Solution to Source Control". This would display the VSS log-on window, and enable you to take it from there.
Once your solution is in VSS, with the correct settings, you'll find most activities to be highly simplified: Starting to edit a file automatically checks it out, right-clicking gives options such as save changes, compare versions, or undo a checkout, and so on.
Check it out!