Getting Shell Integration for TFS when using TFS Cloud Services and Visual Studio Express 2012

I recently started using Team Foundation Service 2012 in the cloud together with Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop. The cloud service allows me to easily put my sources under version control and schedule automatic builds without having to set up any servers.

From TortoiseSVN I am used to access source control features from the context menu of files and folders. For instance I want to be able to add files to source control directly from the right-click menu.

This is possible. The short-named Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 Update 1 Power Tools contains a shell extension which does exactly that. Cool!

But my first attempt to install the Power Tools failed. It thought having Visual Studio Express installed would be enough. But apparently you first have to install Team Explorer for Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.

Having done this the Power Tools installation succeeds and you get the full context menu goodness:

TFS shell integration