Error "'git' is not recognized as an internal or external command"

Question

I have an installation of Git for Windows, but when I try to use the git command in Command Prompt, I get the following error:

'git' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file. 

How do I fix this problem?

Answer 1

You may not have set your PATH correctly to point at your Git installation.

You need to add the following paths to PATH:

• C:\Program Files\Git\bin\
• C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\

And check that these paths are correct. You may have Git installed on a different drive, or under Program Files (x86). Correct the paths if necessary.

---

Modifying PATH on Windows 10:

1. In the Start Menu or taskbar search, search for "environment variable".
2. Select "Edit the system environment variables".
3. Click the "Environment Variables" button at the bottom.
4. Double-click the "Path" entry under "System variables".
5. With the "New" button in the PATH editor, add C:\Program Files\Git\bin\ and C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\ to the end of the list.
6. Close and re-open your console.

Modifying PATH on Windows 7:

1. Right-click "Computer" on the Desktop or Start Menu.
2. Select "Properties".
3. On the very far left, click the "Advanced system settings" link.
4. Click the "Environment Variables" button at the bottom.
5. Double-click the "Path" entry under "System variables".
6. At the end of "Variable value", insert a ; if there is not already one, and then C:\Program Files\Git\bin\;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\. Do not put a space between ; and the entry.
7. Close and re-open your console.

If these instructions weren't helpful, feel free to look at some others:

• How to set the path and environment variables in Windows (Computer Hope)
• How to edit your system PATH for easy command line access in Windows (How-To Geek)
• How to set Path environment variables in Windows 10 (Addictive Tips)
• What are PATH and other environment variables, and how can I set or use them? (Super User)

Answer 2

If you opened the cmd prompt before installation of Git, close and reopen it.

Answer 3

1. Go to My Computer → Local Disk(C:) → Program Files(x86) → Git → cmd
2. Right-click the git → Select Properties
3. Under the location, copy the text. For example, C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd
4. Come back to the Desktop
5. Right-click My Computer
6. Select property
7. Open Advanced
8. Click Environment Variables
9. In the System variables, find the Variable call Path
10. Click the variable
11. Click the Edit button
12. Select the Variable value text box.
13. Go to the edge of the text and add semicolon(;)
14. Then right-click and press Paste
15. Press OK

Answer 4

An easy route to avoid messing with PATH variables: reinstall Git and select "Use Git from the Windows Command Prompt". It'll take of the PATH variables for you as mentioned. See the screenshot:

Answer 5

If you are using GitHub for Windows (GitHub's old Git GUI that is no longer available for download, not the new Electron-based GitHub Desktop), you have an installation of Git under:

C:\Users\<YOUR USERNAME>\AppData\Local\GitHub\PortableGit_8810fd5c2c79c73adcc73fd0825f3b32fdb816e7\cmd

Expand this path, and add it to PATH.

Answer 6

If you want to set up for a temporary purpose, just execute the below command.

1. Open a command prompt: Run → cmd

2. Run the below command.

   set PATH=C:\Program Files\Git\bin;%PATH%

3. Type git. It will work.

This is valid for current windows/cell only. If you will close command prompt, everything will get vanish.

For permanently changing the setting, set the GIT environment variable.

1. Press Window + Pause

2. Click on Advanced system settings.

3. Click on Environment variable under the Advanced tab.

4. Edit Path Variable.

5. Add the below line in end of the statement.

   ;c:\Program Files\Git\bin;

6. Press OK!!

7. Open a new command prompt <Point 1>.

8. Type git and press Enter

Answer 7

If you get this error, you might not have Git installed in your system.

Download it here:

Downloads

Install it.

If you have Windows, you will now see a C:\Program Files\Git folder.

Open a new Command Prompt window, and try running the Git command again.

Answer 8

Use Start menu → All Programs → Git → Git Bash.

It takes you directly to the Git shell.

Answer 9

Yo! I had lots of problems with this. It seems that GitHub brings its own console which you need to look for in your drive. I managed to finally run it by doing the following:

1. Press Start.

2. Search for "GitHub" (without quotes)

3. Right click on "GitHub" and select "Open File Location"

   This shall open:

   C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\GitHub, Inc
   

   Where username is your PC's username.

4. Look for a program called "Git Shell". Double-click on it.

This will open a PowerShell command prompt. Then you can run your Git commands normally on it.

Answer 10

If you're using Windows 10, do this:

1. Go to the Start menu

2. Start typing 'This PC'

3. Right-click This PC, and choose Properties

4. On the left side of the window that pops up, click on Advanced System Settings

5. Click on the Advanced tab

6. Click on the Environmental Variables button at the bottom

7. Down in the System Variables section, double-click Path

8. Click the New button in the top right corner

9. Add the path *C:\Program Files\Git\bin*, and then click the Enter key

10. Add another path: C:\Program Files\Git\cmd

11. Close and reopen the console if it's already open.

I stepped you through the long way so you gain exposure to the different Windows/menus.

Answer 11

1. Search for GitHubDesktop\app-2.5.0\resources\app\git\cmd
2. Open the File
3. Copy File location.
4. Search for environment.
5. open edit system environment variable.
6. open Environment Variables.
7. on user variable double-click on Path.
8. click on new
9. past
10. OK
11. Open path on system variables.
12. New, past the add \ (backslash), then OK
13. Search for GitHubDesktop\app-2.5.0\resources\app\git\usr\bin\ 14 Copy the Address again and repeat pasting from step 4 to 12.

Answer 12

That's because at the time of installation you have selected the default radio button to use "Git" with the "Git Bash" only. If you would have chosen "Git and command line tool" then this would not be an issue.

• Solution #1: as you have already installed a Git tool, now navigate to the desired folder. Right-click, use "Git Bash here" to run the same command, and it will run properly.

• Solution #2: try installing the Git-scm again and select the proper choice.

Answer 13

I've faced the issue, and it got solved after installing Git.

Download it from the Downloads page.

Answer 14

I have been suffering from this issues by using vscode. I just edit environment variable PATH on windows 10 as follows:

C:\Program Files\Git\bin

and reopen my terminal. It's working fine.

Answer 15

I just wanted to add to Abizern's answer.

If anyone is using a non-administrator account, you can create a "local" variable instead of a "system" variable which allows access to standard/limited accounts.

When in the "Environmental Variables" window:

1. Select the "New..." button within the "User variables for ..." section.

2. Set the "Variable name:" as "path" and "Variable value:" as "[your-git-path]" (usually found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin).

3. Then click OK.

Answer 16

This helps for me:

I set

C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd

in path for environment variables.

Answer 17

Just check whether BitLocker has been enabled! I faced a similar issue where my Git in cmd was working fine. But after a quick restart, it didn't work, and I got the error as mentioned above.

So I had to unlock the BitLocker since I have installed Git in the hard disk drive volume (:E) which was encrypted by BitLocker.

Answer 18

This is fixed by re-installing Git for me. If still does not work, you may try this -

You need to add the following paths to PATH:

• C:\Program Files\Git\bin\
• C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\

And check that these paths are correct. You may have Git installed on a different drive, or under Program Files (x86). Correct the paths if necessary.

Modifying PATH on Windows 10:

1. In the Start Menu or taskbar search, search for "environment variable".
2. Select "Edit the system environment variables".
3. Click the "Environment Variables" button at the bottom.
4. Double-click the "Path" entry under "System variables".
5. With the "New" button in the PATH editor, add C:\Program Files\Git\bin\ and C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\ to the end of the list.
6. Close and re-open your console.

Answer 19

There can be multiple reasons for the appearing error message.

In my case I tried to set the Git Path and still could not resolve this. The command prompt might need to be restarted to reflect the Git Path changes.

Here is link suggesting the similar thing. 3 ways to resolve the error - "'git' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet"

Answer 20

For future people, if you have this problem in VSCode (not cmd).

If your cmd and powershell recognize git, but VS Code does not, restart your pc and try it. This has worked for me multiple times.

Check if it is recognized with --git version

If not then follow the other comments. (This is first thing that pops up so I hope this comment helps other people with VSCode problems).

Answer 21

Add this path in environment variables:

;C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd

Note: the path may differ, but you should add both bin and cmd.

Answer 22

After installation, open the GitHub application and in the top right corner you'd notice a settings icon. Select Options from the dropdown and choose "Default Shell" as Cmd.

Now try typing 'git shell' in the search (Windows key and type) and choose Git Shell. It should open up in CMD and Git should now be recognized.

Answer 23

• Make sure correct the Git path is added to the Path variable in your Environment Variables. E.g., C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd. It can be different for your case, depending on where your Git gets installed.
• If it doesn’t work, try restarting the command prompt, so that it reads the updated environment variables.
• If it still doesn’t work, try restarting your machine to force the command prompt to read the updated environment variables.

Answer 24

I had this problem. When you install Git, you have to choose the right path. I mean, it should be the same path that you write git(code) in Git Bash

For example, if your path is C:\Users\username, you must install the Git in the same path (C:\Users\username). These two paths should not be different.

Answer 25

Just try restarting your machine if you have just installed Git. Worked for me

Answer 26

Based on my experience, if you encounter the error "'git' is not recognized as an internal or external command" or a similar issue with other commands while using the Windows Shell prompt, but these commands work correctly in the Command Prompt (cmd), even after ensuring that environment variables are appropriately configured and the Windows PowerShell is run as an administrator, you should verify the setting of the PATHEXT variable in the environment.

Ensure that the PATHEXT variable is correctly configured with the following file extensions: .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.WS;.MSC. This variable plays a crucial role in recognizing and executing commands.

Answer 27

Windows 7 32 - bit

I am using Git for my Ruby on Rails application. First time so...

I created a .bat file for loading my Ruby on Rails applications with the paths manually typed using the tutorial How to install Ruby on Rails on Windows 7 - Part 1, Initial setup. If you are new to Ruby on Rails, you might want to check it out as I followed all steps and it works flawlessly after a few trials and errors.

(The .bat file is editable using Notepad++, hence there isn't any need for the long process. Whenever you need to edit a path, you can follow these simple process after creating a .bat file, following the tutorials on the link above "file is called row.bat".)

1. Right-click on the .bat file,
2. Edit with Notepad++.
3. Find the path.
4. Insert the path below the last path you inputted.

During the tutorials I don't remember anything was said in regards to using the Git command so when starting a new project, I had this same problem after installing Git.

The main issue I had was locating the folder with the bin/git.exe executable (git.exe did not show up in search using the Start menu's "search programs and files"). Note: I now understood that the location might vary drastically—see below.

To locate the bin/git.exe file I followed these steps:

1. Left-click the Start menu and locate → All programs → *GitHub inc.
2. Right-click Git shell and select open file location
3. Click through the folders in the file location for the folder "bin"

I had four folders named:

1. IgnoreTemplates_fdbf2020839cde135ff9dbed7d503f8e03fa3ab4
2. lfs-x86_0.5.1
3. PortableGit_c2ba306e536fdf878271f7fe636a147ff37326ad ("bin/exe, found here <<-")
4. PoshGit_869d4c5159797755bc04749db47b166136e59132

Copy the full link by clicking on the Windows Explorer's URL (mine was "C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\GitHub\PortableGit_c2ba306e536fdf878271f7fe636a147ff37326ad\bin"). Open the .bat file in Notepad++ and paste using the instructions on how to add a path to your .bat file from the tutorials above. Problem is solved!