Identity and Access Tool

Microsoft Free

Identity and Access Tool for Visual Studio 2012. Use this package to secure your application with claims based identity and accept users from multiple identity providers.

Microsoft
(22) Review
Visual Studio
2012
Download (25,357)
3/25/2013
1.1.0
View
E-mail Twitter del.icio.us Digg Facebook
Add To Favorites
Description
Reviews (22)
Q and A (34)
Sign in to Write a Review
Sort By:

by Quynh H. Nguyen | Mon 12:38 PM

by Vittorio Bertocci - MSFT | May 17 2013

Sorry to read that you are having issues with the tool and Update 2.
I have Update 2 on multiple machines and the tool works as expected. If you want us to help troubleshoot, I suggest you use the Q & A tab.

by rjygraham | May 16 2013

+1 for broken in Update 2. Still broken in Update 3 CTP even after an uninstall/reinstall.

by ggobbe | May 14 2013

Not working on visual studio 2012 update 2... The Identify and Access menu (to add an STS Reference) is missing.

by David Donabedian | May 12 2013

Not working with VS2012 Update 2

by Frank Robijn | May 11 2013

This type of extension is very welcome, but the current version is difficult to work with - it might not work at all. Tried to use it on a very simple WCF project, but it complains about a missing certificate. It tells you where to expect it (at C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\Extensions\uv2jfeqz.qr2\LocalHost.pfx) and behold - that file exists! Unfortunately there is no information at all on how to solve this type of problem. It's a mess.

by Sergio Parra | April 27 2013

Thanks! nice job!

by Per Ekstedt | April 26 2013

Unfortunately I have not been able to use the tool get which is very sorry since I really need such a tool. Even in a very simple scenario with a wcf service application and a windows console application when using the local development STS it won’t work for me.

I can successfully configure the service application just clicking next and with SAML 2.0 chosen and it seems right even when I make a service reference in the console application to.

When executing the whole i always run into following exception:
{"No version of the CardSpace service was found to be installed on the machine. Please install CardSpace and retry the operation."}

Sometimes the LocalSTS don’t start but I get the error started or not.

Am I alone on this?

by _arash | April 07 2013

Thanks, it's great to see things are improving with identity tool

by Richard D | February 12 2013

The idea of the I&A tool is really great.

Unfortunately the software is very far from ready. Continiously there are errors, with no (or very fuzzy) error details to debug on.

This is not software you can rely your application on (not yet).

Microsoft is absent in the support.

by neoscoob | February 09 2013

The fact that this is not supported on Express editions is completely stupid.

by Brent Schmaltz - MSFT | February 04 2013

I haven't been able to repro the <system.ServiceModel> issue.

Andrey M_ have you seen it lately? Anyone else?

by Christian Metz | January 22 2013

by Lars Kemmann (BynaLogic LLC) | January 05 2013

@Andrey M_: I wish I had looked at these reviews two days ago! I spent way too many hours reaching the same conclusion you did re: issue #2 (projects under solution folders). At least I can say I feel your pain. :)

Aside from that bug, the tool is fantastic and much easier to understand than WIF 1.0.

Dear Microsoft, can you please fix this? It shouldn't take too long, and it's a pretty common scenario in anything other than demos... Thanks!

by MrMoosehead | December 01 2012


EDIT: I apologise, the issue was related to AVG Antivirus interfering.
Note that you can't use AVG whilst using Identity and Access.



--original
I want to use this, and had it working with Azure STS services nicely.
The idea is great and seems simple enough.


But now it seems to be very flaky. Can't remember updating it to a new version.

Not usable in its present form as far as I can tell. I'd love for someone to tell me differently...

by tofutim | November 09 2012

On first install I had an error (which I forgot), followed by the following after restart.

---------------------------
Identity and Access
---------------------------
ID0002: Could not find LocalSTS executable file at address 'C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\Extensions\rqsnqnqa.0fi\LocalSTS.exe'.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

After seeing this a few more times, uninstalling and installing, it looks like it is working... but no, it isn't. Upon selecting the right-click menu option, I get the same error, this time

---------------------------
Identity and Access
---------------------------
ID0003: Could not find LocalSTS executable's configuration file at address 'C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\Extensions\0dgdsiel.yux\LocalSTS.exe.config'.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Another uninstall and install and finally I see the wizard. Strange.

Successfully uses Google to log into MVC 4 app, but no way to log out. Maybe it isn't meant for this.

by Mikael Håkansson | November 05 2012

I can't get the package to load. This is the log information I get:
<entry>
<record>472</record>
<time>2012/11/05 11:27:55.236</time>
<type>Information</type>
<source>VisualStudio</source>
<description>Begin package load [IdentityAndAccessVSPackage]</description>
<guid>{97E6CB8F-C650-43EA-A6F3-2B4A51ECC8D5}</guid>
</entry>
<entry>
<record>473</record>
<time>2012/11/05 11:27:55.247</time>
<type>Error</type>
<source>VisualStudio</source>
<description>SetSite failed for package [IdentityAndAccessVSPackage]</description>
<guid>{97E6CB8F-C650-43EA-A6F3-2B4A51ECC8D5}</guid>
<hr>80004003 - E_POINTER</hr>
<errorinfo>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</errorinfo>
</entry>
<entry>
<record>474</record>
<time>2012/11/05 11:27:55.247</time>
<type>Error</type>
<source>VisualStudio</source>
<description>End package load [IdentityAndAccessVSPackage]</description>
<guid>{97E6CB8F-C650-43EA-A6F3-2B4A51ECC8D5}</guid>
<hr>80004003 - E_POINTER</hr>
<errorinfo>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</errorinfo>
</entry>

by Alex Beloff | October 09 2012

Same here - does not work with VS2012 RTM.

by Andrey M_ | September 16 2012

Overall, the idea and the tool are great. Unfortunately, it seems that there are two bugs that occur when using the tool with an MVC3 app in Visual Studio 2012 RTM:

1. If the web.config contains section <system.serviceModel>, after clicking OK in the configuration tool, it exits with an error stating 'The '[' character, hexadecimal value 0X5B cannot be included in a name';

2. The LocalSTS fails to start for an unclear reason, when using it in an MVC3 project migrated from VS 2010. LocalSTS starts fine in a newly created MVC3 project though.

Update: After quite some trial and error, I was able to determine that problem [2.] occurs when an MVC project was placed inside a so called 'Solution folder'. Once I moved the project out of solution folder into the solution root, the LocalSTS finally started. The same behaviour is reproducible both in MVC3 and MVC4 projects, even when created in VS 2012 from scratch so it's not MVC or VS version-specific.

by TomPester | September 06 2012

As of 20120906 it does not work in VS2012 RTM
The 'IdentityAndAccessVSPackage' package did not load correctly.

1 - 20 of 22 Items   
Sign in to Start a Discussion


  • Creating an RP STS project binding to varoius STS
    1 Posts | Last Post Sat 3:46 PM
    • Hi, 
      how is possible to create an RP STS project in Visual Studio 2012, binding to various STS (Development STS for test, ADFS 2, and custom STS) ?
      I read on various forum and documentation but all refer to Visual Studio 2010.
      Is that still possible in VS 2012?
      Thanks
  • Local STS does not start when web-project is in solution folder
    2 Posts | Last Post May 18, 2013
    • Hi,
      
      If I put the web-project in a solution folder the local STS will not start. It will only start if I put the web-project in the root of the solution. I like the local STS and want to use it but need to have the web-project in a solution folder so I just want to check if there is an update planned for this?
      
      See this for more info:
      
      http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14168774/wif-4-5-local-development-sts-not-running
      
      Thanks!
      
    • Hi Jonas,
      thanks for reporting this! For the time being I would suggest using the workaround mentioned in the stackoverflow thread.
  • Support for Visual Studio 2012 Express
    2 Posts | Last Post May 18, 2013
    • Am I correct in believing that this tool does not support use with Visual Studio 2012 Express?
      
      Assuming this is true, any ideas for alternatives to allow MVC4 developed in Visual Studio 2012 Express to use Azure ACS.
    • Hi Mark,
      you are correct. Visual Studio Express does not directly support extensions.
      Without the tools, things are a bit convoluted. You can follow the instructions in http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/access-control/ but create the web.config of your app manually. You can use the config in http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Claims-Aware-MVC-523e079b as a starting point.
      Another alternative would be to get a trial of Visual Studio (http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads) and use the tool there to create the initial configuration. You can then work on the project in Express. 
      HTH
      V.
  • VS2012 Update 2 & Update 3 CTP
    2 Posts | Last Post May 18, 2013
    • Hi Vittorio, 
      
      As I mentioned in on Twitter, after applying Update 2 to my installation of VS2012 the Identity and Access menu disappears. Is there anything I can check to see why it is not showing up?
      
      Thanks,
      Ryan
    • Ryan, we are looking in the setup data you sent but for the time being there's nothing that stands out (apart from the fact that they refer to Update 3 CTP).
      The update 2 should have no effect on the tool setup, I am wondering if there is anything else at play. Can you please describe in details what verification flow are you using? What is the project that when opened before applying Update 2 was showing the IDA tool and now no longer shows it? 
  • Error while load custom STS Federation Metadata
    2 Posts | Last Post April 12, 2013
    • Hi,
      
      I am getting error while loading my custom STS Federation Metadata by using 'Identity and Access Tool'. This error is ID1116: MetaData download/parsing error, ID0011: There is no valid metadata document located 'path' at signature verification failed.
      
      Regards,
      Yasir
    • Hi Yasir,
      can you verify that your metadata document works correctly with other tools?
      thanks
      V.
  • Error: The Calling thread must be STA, because many UI components require this.
    7 Posts | Last Post February 22, 2013
    • After installing the Identity and Access tool v.1.0.2, and filling in the data I got this error message:
      
      The Calling thread must be STA, because many UI components require this.
      
      After clicking OK, the message pops up.
      
      Seems to me a bug in the tool. Can anyone help?
    • Some extra info:
      
      After deleting all the relying parties in the Azure Management Portal, I'm able to reconfigure again. The problems keeps returning though.
      
      Unfortunately the configuration works when deployed locally, but not when deployed to Azure (of course I've modified the Real, return URL and Audience URI) is doesn't work.
      
      After clicking on the button that should bring me to the login pages, the page appears, but the list of Identity Providers is empty. No error shown.
    • Richard, can you provide more details on what are you configuring in the tool, what project type you are using, what options are you enabling, and so on?
      Also: note that the tool does not do anything specific for Windows Azure, there are some steps you might need to take (like the ones you mentioned) in order for it to work when deployed in the cloud or in the emulator.
    • Hi Richard,
      responding here given that reviews don't offer a mechanism for doing so.
      Sorry for not having responded on this thread right away. This is the right place for discussing the tool.
      However I would like to understand what you meant with "Blogs entries on http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vbertocci/ simply disappaer." 
      That's my personal blog, and I can assure you I never deleted any blog post :-)
    • And lo. It was AVG antivirus
      
      For some reason the combination of AVG and Identity and Access addin causes this issue. 
      
      I have tried disabling various components of AVG but it seems that the only solution is to disable it entirely. 
      
      So given that, who can recommend an AV that won't intefere with development activities?
      
      
      
      Thanks for trying to help. 
    • Sorry, replied to wrong one. }:8)
    • I'm using a MVC 4 application targeting .NET 4.5 framework.
      
      - I use Windows Live & Google as IP
      - Azure Access Control Service as STS
      
      Goal: I want to generate a controller to handle the authentication (as described on Vittorio's blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vbertocci/archive/2012/10/23/windows-identity-foundation-tools-for-visual-studio-2012-rtm.aspx 
      
      Hopes this clarifies my case.
  • Missing "Choose how to handle unauthenticated requests" option
    3 Posts | Last Post February 21, 2013
    • I've an MVC 4 application (Orchard CMS) targeting .NET 4.5. I want to add authentication through ACS in my project.
      
      I rightclick the project -> "Identity and Access"
      I fill in the Providers tabs and click OK
      I rightclick the project -> "Identity and Access"
      I click the Configuration tab
      
      Now in the blog of Vittorio ( http://tinyurl.com/a6zedjt ), there should now be an option "Choose how to handle unauthenticated requests", but unfortunately, this option is not there. It is just missing.
      
      Can anyone tell me what's wrong, or where to look?
    • That feature is enabled / disabled depending on the project type, a GUID in the csproj file. A check is made for MVC4, by looking at 
      <ProjectTypeGuids> for "E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47" which is inserted when the mvc4 template runs on project creation.
      
      What does your <ProjectTypeGuids> look like?
    • Thank you for your answer Brent. My <ProjectTypeGuids> looks like this:
      
      <ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
      
  • <system.ServiceModel> element causing issues?
    1 Posts | Last Post February 04, 2013
    • Just curious if anyone is seeing issues where the is <system.ServiceModel> element in config? It was recorded that this caused the tool to fail, but I haven't seen it in a while.
  • The Identity and Access Tool is gonna drive me crazy
    4 Posts | Last Post January 25, 2013
    • I'm using Windows 8 and VS2012. I've enabled Windows Identity Foundation feature and installed the WIF SDK 4.0, then I installed the Identity and Access Tool extension in VS2012 and restarted my Visual Studio. Sometimes an error occured promting the extension is not loaded correctly, and sometimes there's no error but when I right-click my MVC4 project, there's no Identity and Access shown in the option. I've unistalled and reinstalled the SDK and extension many times and it wasted almost my two days! It's a torture to me. Could anyone please help me out? Thanks!
    • I think I know why the Identity and Access... option is not showing when I right clicked the MVC4 project. Because my project is targeting .net framework 4.0. While I created a project targeting .net framework 4.5, the option appeared. So my question now becomes: is there a way to use Identity and Access Tool for projects targeting .net framework older version? Or can FedUtil.exe work in VS2012?
    • Hi there,
      Targeting a version of the framework < 4.5 entails using WIF1.0. below I am pasting the reply we gave to a question similar to yours.
      
      We do not offer tools in Visual Studio 2012 for targeting WIF1.0. You can work with projects targeting 4.0 and using WIF1.0, but you will not have wizard support for federation-related tasks.
      Visual Studio 2010 with the WIF SDK keeps working as usual. If you don't have a Visual Studio 2010 instance available on your machine and you need to change trust relationships settings, you can still use fedutil.exe (from the old SDK) from the command line. 
    • It would be cool if the tool detected this situation and explained that targeting 4.5 is required, because it's easy to forget the VS defaults to 4.0 when creating new projects of many types.
  • Integrate with Oracle Identity Federation
    4 Posts | Last Post January 24, 2013
    • I am trying to integrate Oracle Identity Federation(OIF) with WIF 4.5. Is this the right tool to do it?
      
      When I import the STS metadata document from OIF to WIF, I receive this error message: "userSelection.SecurityTokenServiceMetada.SecurityTokenServiceDescriptor"
      
      When I export my federation metadata to OIF, OIF errors out with: "The provider ID of a peerprovider cannot be empty string"
      
      So, it seems both parties can't exchange meta data. What is the best approach to integrate WIF with OIF?
      
      Thanks
    • Hi there!
      I have no direct experience with OIF. We did publish a guide about federating ADFS and OIF, but that uses the SAML protocol hence it won't help for integrating with WIF.
      The only advice I can give at this point is to ensure that you are working with the right endpoints. OIF supports many protocols: if for example you are pointing to a metadata document that is not associated with WS-Federation, you won't get the expected results.
      thanks
      V.
    • just a quick update. I ended up using ADFS with OIF as the identity/claim provider. OIF talks SAML protocol to ADFS. My site talks to ADFS using WF-Federation.
    • Hi Lee,
      thanks for the update! I am sure you'll be happy to know that the topology you describe is successfully used in many solutions I have seen.
      Thanks
      V.
1 - 10 of 34 Items