I always get a popup credential helper selector asking me to choose a credential helper

[xato6350]

And it comes back even if I set "always choose this form now on" to true

[DTech · Accepted solution]

Same issue. Just installed the latest version of SourceTree (3.3.9) on a fresh build of Windows 10 v2004

[DTech]

Open Windows Powershell (Admin) from the Start Button context menu:

If it's not there, search for Windows PowerShell, click the > arrow and select Run as Administrator:

Run the following commands (in bold) excluding the #comments:

#Navigate to the SourceTree LocalAppData folder

cd $env:LOCALAPPDATA\Atlassian\SourceTree\git_local\mingw32\bin\

#Run git.exe to edit the config file

./git.exe config --edit --system

#This open a VI text editor

#Press the letter "I" on your keyboard to enter INSERT mode

#Update [credential] helper in the config file as shown in the screenshot above or below.

[credential]
helper = manager

#Press the "Esc" key on your keyboard until INSERT mode exits, then type :wq and press Enter. This "writes and quits" the VI Editor.

:wq

[YopSolo]

thx a lot :)

[jbali sofien]

you just saved my day

[Jesper Chuang]

Very helpful.

[Aparna Atturi]

Thanks a lot, it is helpful.

[Great Dinesh]

Worked for me!

[Ignasi Camacho Redó]

Ty, works.

[Leslie Johnson]

What is meant by:

Esc

:wq

[Great Dinesh]

Hey @Leslie Johnson

Its a command to save and close in Vi editor.
you can use any text editor you are comfortable with such as notepad.

[shreyans jain]

ok how to open config and change this settings 

[Ollie CJ]

To be clear - after you have edited it so:
[credential]
helper = manager

press 'Esc' button

type :wq and press 'return'

(for other VI newbies like me!)

Amazing guide, thank you

[Ioham Leandro]

Thank you @Ollie CJ @dpreston31 :)

[Schroef]

on windows 11 it returns this error, i manually check the folder its there. Not sure whats wrong hre?

'''
%localappdata%\Atlassian\SourceTree\git_local\mingw32\bin\ : The module '%localappdata%' could not be loaded. For more
information, run 'Import-Module %localappdata%'.
At line:1 char:1
+ %localappdata%\Atlassian\SourceTree\git_local\mingw32\bin\
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (%localappdata%\...al\mingw32\bin\:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CouldNotAutoLoadModule
'''

[Justin W_]

The person who wrote this clearly assumes everyone knows what powershell is or how to use it.  The reason I use sourcetree is so I don't have to use command line things, so this 'help' is unhelpful and needs to be more explicit.

[Alon Isaac]

i love u man you saved me !!!!!

[Yam Okovit]

tried everything, literally everything, nothing worked, saw this post by mistake, it worked like magic!

[jcgamedev]

Thank you dude. This thing was getting annoying. 

[kelley_canon]

I'm using the latest version, 3.4.7, under Windows 10.  Is this still an issue in that version?

Also, I'm brand new to Sourcetree and was hoping this kind of tool would keep me OUT of the command line.  If I spend all day, I MIGHT be able to get this done per the steps given.  Is there no other way to do this?  I cannot connect to my remote repo because of this error.

[Rajesh.keni]

Worked for me !!! Thank you.

[Austin Schrader]

I finally got this working by following the exact steps with one modification:

[credential]
helper = manager-core

[jairogallardo]

@Leslie Johnson wq = write and quit

[Astroman]

"git log" failed with code 128: fatal: bad config line 1 in ... gitconfig.

[Dylan Rotunno]

Just installed sourcetree on a new windows machine (running windows 11) and encountered this issue. Following DTech's answer, but instead changing the "helper" assignment to manager-core instead of manager worked for me.

Hope this helps someone!

[HPadhiyar]

its helpful

[rahul tripathi]

thanks for Info,But I directly Selected "Manager" and "always use checkbox".it worked from source tree GUI.

[pierrerossel]

In 2022, installing SourceTree in a new Windows 11 virtual machine still prompts me with this popup of the death... What a pathetic expercience for new users, such as a full class of students...

However, i found out that selecting "manager-core" from the list and checking always use was the solution. If the popup comes again, select the second option "manager-core" was definitive. I don't know why there are several options with the same name, but the second one was the solution.

Also since I was cloning a repository (with https) from bitbucket, I had to connect to my account in Tools > Options > Authentication > Add > select HTTPS and OAuth

[Max Robinson]

Great work finding a simple solution, this helped, thanks!

[Misael Lara]

You are my savior. Thanks!

[paulohcd]

Thanks pierrerossel. It works like a charm.

[Tapan Patel]

Hi, I am having trouble opening the editor

%localappdata%\Atlassian\SourceTree\git_local\mingw32\bin> ./git.exe config --edit --system
hint: Waiting for your editor to close the file... error: cannot spawn vi: No such file or directory
error: unable to start editor 'vi'

[David Ball]

Thanks, this just helped me. Had authentication error when trying to clone a remote repository and setting this as shown has fixed my issue. 

[whereisaaron]

Thanks for the tip! 👏

2022 and the SourceTree OOB experience is just as broken still. Install it, run it, watch the credentials 'helper' pop up continually over and over until you manually edit the /etc/gitconfig file as above. Can't believe someone recommended this client to me :-)

[Jack Fox Studios]

I'm having trouble navigating here:

%localappdata%\Atlassian\SourceTree\git_local\mingw32\bin\

I cannot find 'git_local' in the SourceTree folder, only 'accounts.json'

[DTech]

Please confirm you're looking under Local and not Roaming AppData folders.

%localappdata%\Atlassian\SourceTree\git_local\mingw32\bin

Not

%appdata%\Atlassian\SourceTree

(which contains accounts.json)

Otherwise, check if you're using System Git (%ProgramFiles%\Git) rather than Embedded Git (%localappdata%\Atlassian\SourceTree\git_local\mingw32\bin).

Refer to this KB article:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/sourcetreekb/using-embedded-git-or-system-git-in-sourcetree-785323587.html

[Schroef]

The powershell code wont work for me. I tried CMD but cant seem to close and save that file.

I can save that setting in that popup to "Always use..", but still nothing

THe person who thought it was nice to add PUFFY, can some drop that person from a bridge! WTF im so damn annoyed by that old crap software.