Command-line Git on Windows

Question

I had the same issue and resolved it by adding the /bin directory location to the PATH Environment Variable.

1. Search for the file location where Git was installed, mine is C:\Users\(My UserName)\AppData\Local\GitHub. It may also be C:\Program Files (x86)\Git

2. Once you have the location of Git you should see a /bin sub-folder. It may be in a PortableGit folder (mine is PortableGit_015aa71ef18c047ce8509ffb2f9e4bb0e3e73f13). Copy this path.

3. Go to Control Panel > System > System Protection > Advanced > Environment Variables

4. Choose PATH, click edit and paste the bin path there. If there are already any values in your PATH paste your Git path at the end separated with a semi-colon.

Now you can access Git command from CMD.

As @birryree said, add msysgit's binary to your PATH, or use Git Bash (installed with msysgit as far as I remember) which is better than Windows' console and similar to the Unix one.

These instructions worked for a Windows 8 with a msysgit/TortoiseGit installation, but should be applicable for other types of git installations on Windows.

• Go to Control Panel\System and Security\System
• Click on Advanced System Settings on the left which opens System Properties.
• Click on the Advanced Tab
• Click on the Environment Variables button at the bottom of the dialog box.
• Edit the System Variable called PATH.
• Append these two paths to the list of existing paths already present in the system variable. The tricky part was two paths were required. These paths may vary for your PC. ;C:\msysgit\bin\;C:\msysgit\mingw\bin\
• Close the CMD prompt window if it is open already. CMD needs to restart to get the updated Path variable.
• Try typing git in the command line, you should see a list of the git commands scroll down the screen.

In windows 8.1, setting the PATH Environment Variable to Git's bin directory didn't work for me. Instead, I had to use the cmd directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd.

Credit to @VonC in this question

For me, I'm using Windows 10, @andrew-marshall's instructions worked (Thanks!) except that git.exe was within a cmd directory within PortableGit..., not bin, so I had to put \cmd on the end of the path I added to PATH. Thought I would post this here in case anyone else hits the same issue. You can tell it works once git in a new Command Prompt window returns command usage info and not an error.

In the latest version (v2.19 for Windows when I'm writing), if you choose the option "Use git in Windows command prompt" (or sth similar, please read the options carefully when you install git), you should be able to use git commands in windows command prompt or windows powershell without any additional setting. Just remember to restart the command line tool after you install git.