I need a way to change the server the package pre-validates against, can this be done in the config or will it always look in the package for this value? The reason Im asking this is because once these packages are in either QA or Production they are always trying to per validate against Dev and sometimes they are failing due to connection issues, I would much rather have them just validate against the server they are running on.

What items are validating in a way you don't like? Tasks? Connection Managers? Are you using package configurations? Talk to me now on

Yes Im using package configurations, unfortunately SSIS pre-validates its meta data against the database listed in the package, then executes against config values. So I want a clean way to change it since Im not allowed to deploy out of TFS in my environment.

Seems that you need to use the offline mode for the package. Set this setting up: http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=ssis+offline+mode&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&noj=1&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=Ry875RNyrOXCXM:&imgrefurl=http://microsoft-ssis.blogspot.com/2011/11/long-validation-of-ssis-packages-in.html&docid=61_t4iitAN8vzM&imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5qIw5hM8jvw/TtFO0CC6t5I/AAAAAAAAAds/gSmErRkm0d0/s1600/validation05.jpg&w=443&h=410&ei=1Pu8T5PZGY-62gWJhpiUDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=381&sig=117639262121657972501&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=159&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0,i:86&tx=82&ty=68&biw=1280&bih=839 this will stop validating before running.Arthur My Blog

In this article it says: There are two concerns/downsides for this solution: 1) You cant debug/run your package when you are in offline mode (of course, cant do anything about that). Does that mean I wont be able to run the package when in offline mode?

Yes. Offline mode is only applicable to a package loaded into BIDS/VSArthur My Blog

oh...so if i try to run this via an agent job...would it try to pre-validate?

SSIS will because it is now running outside BIDS. You need to deploy it with the correct config Jymbo.Arthur My Blog

But it wont pre-validate against connections defined in the config...it pre-validates against the connections defined in the package file correct?