Git-credential-manager-for-windows: log-in prompt pop-up does not go away

[JMangiafesto]

Description

log-in requests via pop-up. Will not permanently go away when logged on, or when form is filled out.

Version

GitHub Desktop version: 1.0.4 (also existed in V1.03)

VSC version: 1.17.2 - latest (Issue existed in previous versions as well)

OS version: 10.0.15063

'Windows 10 pro' version 1703 (according to settings)

Steps to Reproduce

As soon as VSC opens the pop up comes shortly after

Note: I regularly have the GIT folder open automatically upon opening VSC

Expected behavior:
No pop-ups at all, or only needing to log in once.

Actual behavior:
pop-ups requesting to log-in, anytime program is open. Anywhere between 1 and 3 pop ups will be open at a given time.

Reproduces how often:
100%, and when I fill out the form (by logging on through the pop-up) the pop-up is replaced seconds later, more often than not two pop-ups exist at any given time, and both will re-open upon being closed.

Additional Information

Logged-on, submitting pull requests and merging from master perfectly fine, it's not a functionality block, nor are there any log-in issues to GitHub web app or desktop app.

I understand that this is possibly an isolated incident, and I only have this issue on one machine, logging in on other PC's doesn't cause the issue to surface. But it's happening on this machine consistently, not sure if there are caching issues or a compatibility problem between the exact GIT/OS versions.

[whoisj]

@JMangiafesto this is potentially a GitHub Desktop bug and not a Git Credential Manager issue.

@shiftkey @Haacked can you please help triage this issue? Thanks!

[JMangiafesto]

I had actually initially created this as an issue for GitHub desktop, after some further testing I found that even without opening or utilizing the Git desktop app; the pop-ups would still come (and consistently upon opening VSC). Let me know if there is any further information that could be helpful in pinpointing the issue.

[whoisj]

@JMangiafesto what is "VSC"? Just for the record, the GCM doesn't just randomly ask for authentication it is being done by some background application or service, which is using the GCM as the GUI. Seems to me that you'll need to use a tool like Process Monitor next time you see a dialog to discover how the GCM is getting launched.

From there, we can help diagnose and/or resolve the issues.

[JMangiafesto]

VSC = Visual Studio Code, which has an integration with GIT. I can commit/revert successfully from the program, and it may be helpful to note that it utilizes the download of GIT for its log-in processes and I believe it utilizes GCM directly as its authentication method.

I have brought up Process Monitor but I am not familiar enough with it to pinpoint the GCM call from all of the other (thousands) of processes it is finding in the background having to do with GIT. If there is a particular filter which would help me provide you constructive data, I can update with that.

Based on what you're saying then it could potentially then be a problem with Visual Studio Code asking the GCM more frequently than necessary? I was under the impression that GCM stored the authentication so that programs could continue making authentication calls and it would return a success/fail status to the program rather than just keep requesting a log-in.

[madcampos]

I have the same issue and don't have the GitHub desktop app installed.
Both Visual Studio Code and powershell (witch is configured to show git status on navigation to a folder) keep asking for my credentials every time it does anything in remote.

[shiftkey]

I have the same issue and don't have the GitHub desktop app installed.

What happens when you run github from PowerShell?

[madcampos]

What happens when you run github from PowerShell?

When navigating to a git folder the script runs the git command to check for changes both locally and on remote, I think this is related to the call to the remote repository which is hosted on GitHub and asks for credential even if I have authenticated previously.

From what I can see it happens in intervals of at least 30 minutes.

PS: git version: 2.15.1.windows.2

[shiftkey]

@whoisj apologies for the delay on this.

GitHub Desktop (Electron) doesn't use GCM for it's authentication, but I found that you could trigger this issue by having both GitHub Desktop (WPF) and GitHub Desktop (Electron) and VSCode installed, and using the repository in VSCode would prompt you for credentials on a loop. I asked VSCode to stop relying on the Git that's embedded in GitHub Desktop (WPF) in https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/pull/35965 and this seems to have been available since 1.18.0.

@JMangiafesto I'm pretty sure that's the issue you're seeing. Please confirm you're running the latest version of VSCode (1.19.1 as of writing) as that should be using the right credential manager and avoiding the credential loop.

@madcampos please open a fresh issue with more details about your setup - what else you have installed aside from Git for Windows, their versions, your global ~/.gitconfig contents and the details about your script that you believe is related to the issue.

[JMangiafesto]

Yes, the issue does seem to be resolved with the updated version of VSC.
The issue had only persisted for the duration of 1.17.x of VSC.