Desktop: GitHub Desktop unable to fetch ("url has no scheme")

[aFloatingEcho]

Update: This has been fixed for Windows in the latest release of Desktop (production v2.4.3 and beta v2.4.4-beta0). We are still investigating a fix for macOS.

Describe the bug

I cannot seem to fetch origin ever since the update to Github Desktop recently, every time I attempt to do this, I get the following error message:
warning: url has no scheme: helperselector
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed: helperselector

Version & OS

Github Desktop Version 2.4.2
Windows 10 Home - Build 18363.889

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Go to the main screen.
2. Click on Fetch Origin
3. See error

Expected behavior

I expected to fetch origin.

Actual behavior

Github spits out an error message. I'm very unsure on what the next steps to do since using other git UI applications seem to work properly, and previous versions of github desktop on a different computer works properly, so something must have changed in this version that causes it to suddenly stop working. I've already logged in and out of Github several times, reinstalled Github Desktop a few other times, but I still run into this issue.

Screenshot of Error Message

[arabelagaje]

Even I am facing same issue. I had a older version installer. after uninstalling new version and installing old version fixed the issue

Github Desktop Version 2.4.2
Windows 10 Home - 18363.720

[giorgoc]

Exactly the same error. Please advise!

[demisp]

Hi, we are getting the same error after updating to version 2.4.2

[giorgoc]

Even I am facing same issue. I had a older version installer. after uninstalling new version and installing old version fixed the issue

Github Desktop Version 2.4.2
Windows 10 Home - 18363.720

which version do you have? can you please share?

[arabelagaje]

Even I am facing same issue. I had a older version installer. after uninstalling new version and installing old version fixed the issue
Github Desktop Version 2.4.2
Windows 10 Home - 18363.720

which version do you have? can you please share?

2.1.0 (thats may be a year old) but it has already downloaded the update on next restart it will be 2.4.2 again I guess
(Any way to keep it in old version until its fixed)

[narasimhamurthyss]

Getting similar issue:

GitHub Desktop Version: 2.4.2
Windows 10 Pro - 18363.720

[giorgoc]

Getting similar issue:

GitHub Desktop Version: 2.4.2
Windows 10 Pro - 18363.720

I have downloaded 2.4.1 from https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6741-github-desktop.html

You can install it over your existing installation it will not delete any settings. The only problem is that it automatically downloads the new version (2.4.2) but good news is that the update is not applied unless you restart the app.

so you can work this solution, at least temporarily.

[rafeca]

Thanks for filling this issue, this may be related to the upgrade to git that was performed on v2.4.2. I'm currently investigating

[koide]

I have the same issue but my commandline git is still working though. Happened right after 2.4.2 upgrade.

git version 2.18.0.windows.1

[Guillicap]

I'm having the same issue as og.

GitHub Desktop Version: 2.4.2
Windows 10 Pro - 18363.720

Any clue about when will we get the fix?

[koide]

Found a solution that worked for me.

Open your .gitconfig (Under C:\Users\<username>) and if you have an entry

[credential "url_without_scheme"]

change it for

[credential "https://url_without_scheme"]

That fixed it for me. It can help the investigation and might fix it for you!

[JimBobSquarePants]

I'm not seeing the issue.

GitHub Desktop Version: 2.4.2
Windows 10 Pro - 18363.778

My credentials setting in .gitconfig (unchanged from default install) is as follows:

[credential]
    helper = wincred

[rafeca]

Hi again! This issue seems to be related to the vulnerability fix that has been introduced on the latest git releases (see the changelog here: https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/Documentation/RelNotes/2.17.5.txt). This fix requires authentication credentials URLs to contain full URLs with their protocol.

As @koide mentioned, changing the URLs in your .gitconfig may fix your issue (I'm unsure if that would solve the helperselector errors though).

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to reproduce the issue myself so I can't provide more advise at the moment. We're contacting with git core members to check if there's a better solution.

[arabelagaje]

[credential]
    helper = manager
[credential "helperselector"]
    selected = manager

This is how my .gitconfig looks, what do i need to change here to fix the issue?

[dscho]

@Aravind-Belagaje thank you for posting this! Now it _all_ makes sense.

To fix this in your setup, simply run:

git config --unset --global credential.helperselector

on the command-line, or _remove_ the lines

[credential "helperselector"]
    selected = manager

[aFloatingEcho]

Well, it looks like replacing the lines as mentioned by @koide in https://github.com/desktop/desktop/issues/9597#issuecomment-617745963 as shown below:

[credential "helperselector"]
    selected = manager

to

[credential "https://url_without_scheme"]
    selected = manager

seems to have fixed my issue as well. (I just got up, I'm surprised this issue blew up.) Looks like doing that has fixed the issue.

[dscho]

Longer explanation, for those who are interested in details: in Git for Windows v2.23.0, we introduced a meta credential helper, i.e. a credential helper that would enumerate all credential helpers available on the search path, and list them and let the user choose.

Now, to remember what the user chose, we persist that choice under the key credential.helperselector.selected.

The fixes in Git v2.26.2 (and in the backports) for CVE-2020-11008 address problems where URL-specific credential settings (whether from .gitmodules or from .gitconfig, does not matter) used _incomplete_ URLs which would be mistaken e.g. by git-credential-osxkeychain for wildcards. That is, a URL of the form https:///path would trick susceptible credential helpers into giving up passwords for _some random host_. As a consequence, v2.26.2 (and those backports) really clamp down on incomplete URLs.

The problem now is that the meta credential helper uses a naming scheme in the Git config that Git mistakes for such a credential setting. It is obviously not that, but Git does not know that. So it wants to verify that the double-quoted parts in [credential "helperselector"] are a valid URL, and otherwise exit with error.

[dscho]

@narasimhamurthyss @giorgoc your issue seems to be a different one. Can you look whether you have any entries either in your user-wide config, or in .gitmodules, that has microsoft.visualstudio.com in double-quotes, where that should maybe be a fully-qualified URL (i.e. _with_ protocol, i.e with the https:// prefix)?

[dscho]

Well, it looks like replacing the lines as mentioned by @koide in #9597 (comment) as shown below:

[credential "helperselector"]
  selected = manager

to

[credential "https://url_without_scheme"]
  selected = manager

@aFloatingEcho please note that it would be better to just remove those lines. By changing the double-quoted part, it is ensured that the meta credential helper won't find that setting anymore, and it is really only useful for that meta helper.

[arabelagaje]

@Aravind-Belagaje thank you for posting this! Now it _all_ makes sense.

To fix this in your setup, simply run:

git config --unset --global credential.helperselector

on the command-line, or _remove_ the lines

[credential "helperselector"]
  selected = manager

Thanks,
it looks like removing

[credential "helperselector"]
    selected = manager

solved the issue for me

[aFloatingEcho]

Huh. That's useful to know, I'll be sure to be lookout on changing that on my other git installations, @dscho . It doesn't look like I need to change:

[credential]
    helper = wincred

I think, right?

I"ll let rafeca decide if this can be closed or if this still needs work.

[dscho]

It doesn't look like I need to change:

[credential]
  helper = wincred

I think, right?

Right. The problem occurs when you have a quoted part in [credential "<something>"] because as of the latest security bug fixes, that <something> _must_ be a fully-qualified URL.

[marcozakaria]

The proplem occurs after last update with private repos only version 2.4.2

[giorgoc]

@narasimhamurthyss @giorgoc your issue seems to be a different one. Can you look whether you have any entries either in your user-wide config, or in .gitmodules, that has microsoft.visualstudio.com in double-quotes, where that should maybe be a fully-qualified URL (i.e. _with_ protocol, i.e with the https:// prefix)?

It's exactly the same problem as the others reported. So , the solution was to replace

[credential "helperselector"]

by

[credential "https://url_without_scheme"]

at the .gitconfig file under

C:\Users\<username>

directory.

[dscho]

@giorgoc but didn't you report to have a [credential "microsoft.visualstudio.com"]? That would have interesting settings, I am sure, and will need a fix in Git's source code. (I'm on it.)

[dima-y]

I am having the same issue after upgrading to 2.26.2. In my c:users.gitconfig I have

[credential]
helper = manager

I tried removing that, but it didn't seem to change anything, I am still getting

warning: url has no scheme:
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed:

yet besides those messages, all seems to work fine (I'm using command line git).

In my .git-credentials there is a bunch of URLs but all start with 'https://'.

[outofambit]

@dima-y are you using github desktop? or is this cli git v2.26.2? can you share if you're on mac or windows, too please? thank you!

[dima-y]

@outofambit I'm on Windows 10, using git for Windows (updated this morning to 2.26.2), using command line.
> git --version
> git version 2.26.2.windows.1

[outofambit]

hey all, we are still looking into this! thank you for being so patient. we are evaluating some different fixes and hope to be able to patch this early next week.

as we understand it right now, its an issue in git v2.23.3 for both mac and windows users, but seems to be more common for windows users due to some complicating factors in git4windows and other config settings that are more common in windows environments.

---

If you're experiencing this issue, please comment saying so and include your OS version! We want to be sure we're tracking how many people are affected by this.

[outofambit]

@dima-y gotcha, thanks for sharing this! this discussion is specific to github desktop (which bundles git4windows v2.23.x). please file an issue in git-for-windows, especially since i don't seen one there for something like this on version 2.26.2.windows.1. thank you!

[dima-y]

@outofambit Thanks, will do. BTW, FWIW, I 'fixed' this by removing the '[credential]' entry also from my local .git/config. Still looks like a bug to me.

[tanchora]

I have the same problem.
Installed a new desktop on 04/22.
Trying to publish a repository and getting an error

"warning: url has no scheme: helperselector
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed: helperselector"

Win10 v.1809

[giorgoc]

@giorgoc but didn't you report to have a [credential "microsoft.visualstudio.com"]? That would have interesting settings, I am sure, and will need a fix in Git's source code. (I'm on it.)

No, i quoted a message for VS from another user, but mine is related to the helperselector too :-)

[m-blattner]

The mentioned Fix solved it for me. Thanks

[Guillicap]

@Aravind-Belagaje thank you for posting this! Now it _all_ makes sense.

To fix this in your setup, simply run:

git config --unset --global credential.helperselector

on the command-line, or _remove_ the lines

[credential "helperselector"]
  selected = manager

That worked for me!

Thank you :)

[dscho]

Still looks like a bug to me.

@dima-y Yes. To make it clear: we are treating it exactly this way: this is a bug. There are already patches being discussed on the Git mailing list to fix this. We try to move as fast as we can to fix this (without risking breaking more stuff).

[pax-awitt]

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic
Git: 2.17.1

only occurs for me on a git pull:

warning: url has no scheme: 
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed: 
Already up to date.

of note is that if there are changes to pull, my local git updates with those changes, even with the error. creating a new branch, pushing, and getting status do not seem to produce the error for me.

in my ~/.gitconfig file, i have this section at the end:

[credential]
        helper = store

and then my ~/.git-credentials file has a single entry of the form, https://<git-username>:<git-token>@github.com

[GeneralSoundwave]

I am an artist and I am using two different programs for source control:
GitHub Desktop Because it uses vocabulary words that I understand because I am right brained and not a left-brained programmer. (I'm not wired for genius).
Source Tree: Because it has a visual tree.

I was able to get Source Tree working by pounding the crap out of the HelperSelector: Manager Button. If finally worked after pressing it 5 to 7 times. I can commit and also Fetch.

GitHub Desktop, however, does not have an interface for me to abuse:

This only happens when I try and Push.

*edit. I am also on git version 2.26.2.windows.1 on Windows 10

[dscho]

@GeneralSoundwave please run git config --global credential.helper manager followed by git config --global --unset credential.helperselector.selected. The first invocation should do the same as selecting the manager in the helper _and_ checking the Always use this from now on checkbox. The second invocation will let GitHub Desktop fetch again.

[bPavenko]

It helped me:
in .gitconfig (C:/Users/YOURUSERNAME):
Change this lines:

[credential "helperselector"]
    selected = manager

to

[credential]
    helper = wincred

[rabrahamOpti]

I use AppVeyor as my CI solution. Part of that build process uses git-credential store to store access tokens the build needs to pull down an Azure hosted git repo for an APIM tenant.

An access token with this format:
https://username:password@{name}.scm.azure-api.net/

is manifesting the error being discussed in this issue, as of Git for Windows 2.26.2:

warning: url has no scheme: ?
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed: ?

[joelcahalan]

I am using osx:
My gitconfig includes:

[credential]
    helper = store

which works fine from the command line. I don't think it is invalid. The problem is that Github desktop is setting the helper to nothing( from the logs: git -c credential.helper= -c protocol.version=2 fetch --progress --prune origin) which requires manual input of the credentials which it doesn't seem to be set up to do...

[sud007]

Huh. That's useful to know, I'll be sure to be lookout on changing that on my other git installations, @dscho . It doesn't look like I need to change:

[credential]
  helper = wincred

I think, right?

I"ll let rafeca decide if this can be closed or if this still needs work.

this just works! Thanks. But I had this piece configured with "wincred" while setting up source tree with wincred. Will my sourcetree setup break in such case?

[dscho]

warning: url has no scheme: ?
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed: ?

@rabrahamOpti could you have a look whether the ~/.git-credentials file maybe contains a line that has a single question mark in it? Or anything else with a question mark in a funny spot?

[dima-y]

@dscho FWIW, in my case the problem was caused by TWO empty lines at the end of ~/.git-credentials, and the "fix" was to remove the extra empty line.

[ender9055]

Manually removing all the credential parameters from .git/CONFIG file solved the problem for me.
After running "git pull" , I had to re-enter github credentials and save it again into credential store.

[dscho]

@ender9055 what operating system are you on? An update this past Monday should have addressed this issue on Windows, but there is not yet any official Git v2.23.x fixing it on other platforms.

[nikoremi97]

Ubuntu

For linux users...

I ended up using ssh instead of https. Find how to create and store your ssh credentials, this depends on which git server are you using: https://help.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/connecting-to-github-with-ssh. Once you've done that, run this command

git remote set-url origin git@your_repo_here.git

Once I did that, the problem was solved

[oyvindstegard]

It does seem like git has become very sensitive to empty lines in ~/.git-credentials (using store helper) after a range of security patches landed in April (2.17.X, Ubuntu 18.04.X). Probably need to fixup the parsing so that empty/whitespace-only lines become are ignored.

[rabrahamOpti]

warning: url has no scheme: ?
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed: ?

@rabrahamOpti could you have a look whether the ~/.git-credentials file maybe contains a line that has a single question mark in it? Or anything else with a question mark in a funny spot?

@dscho I RDPed into the appveyor VM and inspected ~/.git-credentials. I do not see any ? characters. This is what the file looks like (anonymized with {username} {password}, and {APIM Tenant}):

https://{username}:{password}@{APIM Tenant}.scm.azure-api.net/

https://{username}:{password}@{APIM Tenant}.scm.azure-api.net/

https://{username}:{password}@{APIM Tenant}.scm.azure-api.net/

The passwords are URL encoded, and contain %26, %2b, %3d and %2f

[rabrahamOpti]

warning: url has no scheme: ?
fatal: credential url cannot be parsed: ?

@rabrahamOpti could you have a look whether the ~/.git-credentials file maybe contains a line that has a single question mark in it? Or anything else with a question mark in a funny spot?

@dscho I RDPed into the appveyor VM and inspected ~/.git-credentials. I do not see any ? characters. This is what the file looks like (anonymized with {username} {password}, and {APIM Tenant}):

https://{username}:{password}@{APIM Tenant}.scm.azure-api.net/

https://{username}:{password}@{APIM Tenant}.scm.azure-api.net/

https://{username}:{password}@{APIM Tenant}.scm.azure-api.net/

The passwords are URL encoded, and contain %26, %2b, %3d and %2f

@dscho It appears that the newlines in that file are triggering this bug. Another AppVeyor user ran into this, and found that eliminating extra newlines allowed his builds to succeed. I updated my configuration to mimic his work-around and am also no longer experiencing this bug.

[devmaster45]

I use 2 repos for personal and work both with 2fa. This worked for me to stop errors in Atom editor.

Changed .gitconfig lines:

from

[credential "github.com"]
useHttpPath = true
to

[credential]
useHttpPath = true

[dscho]

I use 2 repos for personal and work both with 2fa. This worked for me to stop errors in Atom editor.

Changed .gitconfig lines:

from

[credential "github.com"]
useHttpPath = true
to

[credential]
useHttpPath = true

Yes, that will fix the issue, and due to a bug in Git

[ZEARMENI]

bonehtay@GeneralSoundwave