Source control for Visual Studio that doesn't require a server?
With Subversion you can create local, file-system-based repositories for single-user access.
Probably the easiest way to use subversion (on windows) is to install TortoiseSVN. To create a repository, you simply create an empty folder in the location where you want the repository to be, right click that folder and select "TortoiseSVN -> Create repository here".
It is even possible (but not recommended) to create such a repository on a network share.
You can then access local repositories using a file-URL e.g: file:///D:/Projects/MyRepository
If you later find out that you need a server (e.g. to give other users access to the repository), you can easily install svnserve on a server and move the local repository to that server.
Just for completeness: as others have noted, there are several good clients for subversion (personally I'm using mainly TortoiseSVN and AnkhSVN):
- the subversion command line binaries
- TortoiseSVN (free, integrated into windows explorer)
- VSFileExplorer (free, gives you an explorer view inside Visual Studio and a allows you to access TortoiseSVN from there)
- AnkhSVN (free, integrated into Visual Studio)
- VisualSVN (commercial, integrated into Visual Studio)
- VisualSVN Server (free, a SVN server with a nice GUI)
Funny nobody mentioned Git just yet. Granted, it does have a learning curve, but I've been using it successfully within Visual Studio for the past year. Both commandline and with a GUI (GitExtensions).
Download Git for Windows from here.
Since it is a DVCS, it doesn't need a server. You can work against your local repositories publishing them to the world when needed (check out Github).
You can use AnkhSVN (or any other SVN client) without a server. Just create a repository on your local disk and then point your working copy to it using a URL like file:///C:/Repositories/repo.
AnkhSVN has improved a lot, but I prefer VisualSVN myself. I think its interface is a little easier to work with (especially if you're used to TortoiseSVN, which it is based on) and it will handle things like automatically setting your build folders as ignored. It is commercial, but it is inexpensive.