Unable to start the build controller

I had an issue with my build controller that it would start. Finally I was able to resolve the issue.

First the context. I wanted to start the build under a Build Service account, so I created a new user in AD. Then I went to the TFS Administration Console and clicked on the Build Configuration. In there stop the build service and click on properties. It opens the properties for the build service.

Specify the credentials of the build service and click on Start.

Now my Build Controller says it is Initializing (and keeps in this state)

Click on the Properties and when you click on the Test Connection you get an error message

The message with To ‘http://<address>:9191/Build/v3.0/Services/Controller/1’  cannot be processed at the receiver, due to an AddressFilter mismatch at the EndpointDispatcher. Check that the sender and receiver’s EndpointAddresses agree.

When I change the Credentials of the Build Service to “NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService” it works again, so it has something to do with the security and/or authorization. When investigating the event log, I found the following entry.

Failed to add the build service account 'TFS\tfsbuild' to Windows Group TFS_BUILD_SERVICE_WPG. Return code: 2221.

I don’t know the root cause of this warning, but with the following steps you can solve the issue:

1. Add the user account you want to run the build service with to the TFS_BUILD_SERVICE_WPG group
2. Open the TFS Administration Console
3. Go to the Build Configuration node.
4. Open the properties of the Windows Service in the TFS Administration Console
5. Stop the service
6. Change the Credentials to “NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService”
7. Click on Start
8. Open the properties again
9. Stop the service
10. Set the Credentials to the build service account
11. Click on Start
12. Click on the properties of the build controller
13. Click on Test Connection

The message should be now something like