When using System git, my git config --global file is still SourceTree's?

IBrown_BluePrint

I'm using SourceTree and Git 2.21.0 for Windows and was having a lot of trouble with configuration. SourceTree is set to use the system git install and shows the proper 2.21.0 version number. I ran these commands in a non-repository directory in command prompt and got surprising results:

- `git config --list` outputs mostly my `%ProgramData%\Git\Config` file's contents.

- `git config --global --list` output conflicting configuration data

- `git config --global --edit` opened `C:\Users\Me\.gitconfig`. I thought this was just the SourceTree global, I expected it to open the one in ProgramData.

- `git config --system --edit` opened `C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\etc\gitconfig` as expected

- From the `%ProgramData%\Git\` directory, `git config --edit` produced an error.  

> fatal: not in a git directory

 

How is `git config` able to list my `%ProgramData%\Git\Config` contents but not edit that file and what is it if it isn't System, Global, or Local config?  Why is `git config --global` using the SourceTree file, is that just the default path to the Global config for git on Windows?

IBrown_BluePrint

Git for Windows has a 4th configuration file that cannot currently (v2.21.0) be edited from command line that is stored as `C:\Program Data\Git\config`. They are loaded before even System and so have the lowest priority.

Using `git config --list --show-origin` will show you where each configuration comes from.

Somehow, I got it in my head that this was the location of the global config file in windows when it is actually still `C:\Users\<UserName>\.gitconfig` which is the same file used by SourceTree's embedded git if you use that.