dotCover 2019.3 Help

Installation Guide

dotCover is a Visual Studio extension. It supports Visual Studio 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. After installation, you will find the new ReSharper entry in the main menu of Visual Studio. Most dotCover commands are available in this menu. However, a lot of features are integrated in the editor, Solution Explorer, and other Visual Studio windows. Most of dotCover commands are also available with keyboard shortcuts.

Starting from dotCover 3.0, all JetBrains .NET products are shipped in the unified installer as ReSharper Ultimate. In the installer, you can select products to install and update. A new installation can be done just in a few clicks. However, if you are upgrading from a previous version (especially version 2.7 or earlier), some details may not be obvious. By default, JetBrains .NET products are installed into the current user profile, but you can also install a specific configuration of the tools for all users. This topic will help you streamline the installation process.

New installation with default settings

If you are installing dotCover for the first time, the installation process is very simple.

To install dotCover for the first time

  1. Run the installer file.

  2. Make sure that the Install option is selected (blue) next to the products you want to install.

  3. By default, the selected products are installed into all Visual Studio versions on the target machine. If necessary, on the bottom of the installer window, you can deselect some Visual Studio versions. (the selected versions are blue).

  4. Read and accept the license agreement and then click Install at the bottom of the installer dialog.

Dealing with previous versions

dotCover does not allow you to install its different versions in the same Visual Studio version on a single machine. However, several different versions can be installed in different Visual Studio versions.

It is also important to note that if you install several JetBrains dotNet products, some versions can be incompatible. For example it is impossible to install ReSharper 9.0 and dotTrace 5.0 in the same Visual Studio version. For example if you have ReSharper 8.2 and dotCover 2.5, and then decide to upgrade dotCover to version 3.0 in the same Visual Studio version, the installer will not only remove dotCover 2.5, but also ReSharper 8.2.

If a previous version of dotCover is installed on your machine, the installer will remove the conflicting version (previous installation in the same Visual Studio version) automatically. If necessary, the installer can also remove non-conflicting versions.

If the installer detects previous installations of any JetBrains dotNet products, the Show Details link appears in the top-right corner of the installer window. Click this link to check the existing versions and see how the installer is going to treat them.

For instance, in the illustration below, there is only one version conflict. ReSharper 9.0 is not in the conflict because it is installed into Visual Studio 2013, while the current installation targets Visual Studio 2012 and 2015. Previous installations in Visual Studio 2012 and 2015 should be removed anyway and therefore the option Skip is disabled next to them.

dotCover installer

Installing into experimental instance of Visual Studio

Visual Studio's experimental instance feature (previously known as custom hives) is intended for developing and debugging Visual Studio extensions, and maintains a separate copy of the configuration needed to run Visual Studio. Each experimental instance can have an entirely different configuration, from theme and window layout to the extensions that are loaded.

By default, JetBrains dotNET products are installed as a per-user extension for the main instance of Visual Studio. It is not visible in other existing instances. However, it can be installed into other experimental instance. You may need this, for example, to try out a ReSharper plugin.

To install to an experimental instance, run the installer, click Options, and enter the name of the instance. The experimental instance does not need to exist before starting the install.

To launch Visual Studio in an experimental instance, run this command in the command line:

devenv.exe /rootSuffix InstanceName

Silent and machine-wide installation modes

By default, JetBrains dotNET products are installed into the current user profile. This is the recommended way of installation because it does not require administrative permissions, it allows automatic updates, and so on. In some environments, however, there is need to install the products for multiple users and/or automate the installation. There are following ways of custom installation:

  • Installation from command line
    After configuring the installation options, the installer can create a command that passes all configuration options as command line parameters. You can copy this command and use it in your custom installation scenario. For example, you can put the installer in a shared folder and place a batch file with the command next to it. As soon as the user executes this file the specified configuration will be silently installed for this user.
    You can find the full list of the command-line parameters in this article.

  • Machine-wide installation from command line
    The installer can also create a command that installs the specified configuration for all users in their user profiles on a specific machine. After running this command, the installer and the configuration arguments will be copied to the %PROGRAMFILES(x86)\JetBrains\InstallationData folder on the target machine and special command will be added to the logon script for all users. The installation will then be automatically completed for each user that logs in on that machine.

  • Machine-wide installation on the current machine
    You can also perform machine-wide installation as described for the previous option directly on the current machine.

  • Machine-wide installation into the 'Program Files' folder (all users mode)
    In some corporate environments, installations of programs into user profiles are not allowed. In this case, you can install desired JetBrains dotNET products into the 'Program Files' folder and thus make them available for all users on the current machine.
    This installation mode is not compatible with existing installations in user profiles. That is, if there are any JetBrains dotNET products installed in user profiles, you need to uninstall them before installing into 'Program Files' and vice versa.

Note that all custom installation modes require administrative permissions.

To perform a custom installation

  1. Run the installer file.

  2. Click Options on the bottom of the installer dialog.

  3. Select Administrative mode and/or All users and click Apply.

    dotCover installer. Custom settings

  4. Make sure that the Install option is selected (blue) next to the products you want to install.

  5. By default, the selected products are installed into all Visual Studio versions on the target machine. If necessary, on the bottom of the installer window, you can deselect some Visual Studio versions. (the selected versions are blue).

  6. Read and accept the license agreement and then click Next.

    • If you have chosen the All users mode, the selected products are installed into the 'Program files' folder.

    • If you have chosen the Administrative mode, you will be able to copy the installation commands on the last wizard page.

Manage dotCover via Toolbox App

Toolbox App is a control panel that allows you to manage all JetBrains developer tools, including dotCover, from a single point of access. It lets you launch dotCover in different versions of Visual Studio, maintain different versions of the same tool, install updates and roll them back if needed. It also remembers your JetBrains Account and uses it to automatically log you in when you install and register new tools.

To install dotCover via Toolbox App

  1. Download Toolbox App.

  2. Launch the setup file.

  3. When the installation is complete, accept the JetBrains privacy policy and sign in with your JetBrains Account.

Now you can manage existing tools, install new tools, and download updates:

dotCover in the JetBrains Toolbox App

Installation directories

Starting from ReSharper 9.0, dotCover 3.0, dotTrace 6.0, and dotPeek 1.3, JetBrains dotNet products are installed in the following directory by default:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\Installations

If you have installed dotCover using the All users mode, the installation directory is:

%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\JetBrains\Installations for 64-bit systems and
%PROGRAMFILES%\JetBrains\Installations for 32-bit systems.

Directories of products installed into experimental instances of Visual Studio have the experimental instance name as a suffix.

Last modified: 3 March 2020